Crimson Rain Drops
by Pure Mudblood
Summary: Hermione felt someone holding her hair back as she got sick. At that moment, she truly didn’t care who it was. All she could think about was getting all this poison out of her system. Warning: strong language and suicide. Completed
1. Chapter 1

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and characters that obviously arent in the books. (none as of yet)

&&&&

Hermione Granger lifted her shirt to examine the damage of last night's drunken rage. Her parents had been beating her repeatedly for the last three summers. Ever since she walked over to them from the Hogwarts express at the end of fourth years.

She looked over her stomach. Several new bruises stood out on her pale skin. Lord, how she hated her family. Several wounds were scattered across her back. Her 'father' decided that she needed some extra punishment.

&&&&&**Flashback**&&&&&

__

Ryan Granger threw his daughter on the ground. He was drunk again, and in a rage. He kicked her so many times. Over and over, no mercy.

She never cried out. Never had cried out during a single one of these. She refused to give him the satisfaction of it. He had done some pretty sick things to her, just to get her to scream out in pain. He had never heard it though. Not even the first time.

Hermione looked up at her Teresa Granger, her mother, who as always stood in the corner watching everything happen with an evil smile on her lips. It gave her a weird sense of satisfaction to watch her husband hurt her only daughter. The only move she made was to hand Ryan the belt off the nightstand.

Ryan lashed out with it. Each time it made contact Hermione wanted to scream and cry out in pain, but again she refused too.

She focused on putting all energy into clinging to the darkness that threatened to consume her entire being. She didn't want to let it win this time, but yet she did. She wanted it to win so that this would all end. So that she could slip into a world beyond this one.

Finally it all stopped. Ryan walked out of the room as if nothing had taken place in there. As if his daughter wasn't lying in pain in the middle of the floor. Teresa walked over and leaned down whispering "we never did love you, you little bitch". She than stood and walked out.

Hermione watched her leave than let darkness clutches take her.

&&&&&

Hermione looked up to her reflection. She saw an emotionless expression and black hair. She had perfect skin though. About the only part of her that didn't have a scar of some kind on it. The only part that Ryan left untouched.

Hermione walked across her bedroom. _Come on, only one more week of this hell and you never had to come back._ She reached her dresser and opened the second last drawer and pulled out a knife that she had hidden by wrapping it in a small piece of scrap fabric..

She unwrapped it and pressed it to her skin. She only pressed hard enough for pain. Only hard enough for a few beads of blood to come. She had gone deeper before but she knew the limits. Knew exactly how far to go for just the simple relief and how far to for death to welcome her.

She looked up saw Hedwig coming towards the window. She took the letter that was attached to her leg, gave her a treat from her desk drawer and sent her off without a reply. She hadn't replied a single time that summer. No matter who the letter was from. She had eventually stopped reading the letters because it simply hurt too much. They were so ignorant, but she liked it that way. She didn't want them to know that the perfect life she had led them to believe she had was all a lie.

She had gotten her letters from Hogwarts a week previous and found out that she was Head Girl, though it didn't tell her who the Head Boy was. She was hoping that it would be someone from another house, because she didn't want a Gryffindor living in close confines with her again.

It had come to close for comfort a few times over the past years in the girl's dorm. They had almost seen her scars so many times, but they just thought that is was a trick of the eye because when they looked next they would all be gone. The guys were a lot smarter than her dorm mates had been, and she had always been careful to have long sleeves or robes on at all times around them.

If she had to live with one of them it would be to likely that they would notice her little problem. That they would see the scars that covered her body. She had kept it all a secret for a reason, and now was not the time for it to come out.

She thought it would most likely be Malfoy as he was second to her in every class, except potions, but the reason there was kind of obvious. Really, she hoped that it was Malfoy.

She hated immensely and vice-versa. He would never care enough to even notice that she was there or notice that there was something wrong. He certainly wouldn't notice any of her scars. Would never care how they got there in the unlikely case he did notice.

She would never let anyone know this though. It wouldn't be good because it would show that she had a problem, that she wasn't the Hermione Granger she had led everyone to think she was.

Hermione laid on her bed and reached over the edge to grab her Journal. It had every secret in it, but it wasn't written in normal everyday English. It was all poems and someone would really have to study them to get what they said.

She opened up to an empty page and began to write.

__

They don't know

And them wouldn't care

Goody Goody no more

But old believed all was fair

Crimson falls

Unbeknown to them all

Riddled for a reason

Ready for the great fall

Consume

Really doesn't matter

Just get it over with

Cant climb the rest of life's ladder

End it

Silver and shiny

Not known

Not even kindly

Dark and shadow

Life hidden

Wont let it out

Honestly their not kidding

Drops of life

Precious time lost

Signed the contract

At a huge cost

Hermione closed her journal and put it back in its spot. She never intended anyone to read it, ever. And if she could help, no one ever would.

She went back to her dresser and grabbed a plain black sweatshirt. She wore all black all the time. No one noticed this though. Or did and just thought that it was a change of wardrobe. Whatever the reason she didn't care.

She was always so surprised though. So emotionless were her eyes and face. So hollow looking. Not the Hermione Granger that Hogwarts knew.

She walked out of the house, and wandered around. She hadn't been out of the house for a few days, and knew that she was in for something tonight, whether or not she stayed in.

&&&&**Off somewhere in the country**&&&&

Draco Malfoy rolled over in his bed only to be hit with a blinding pain. All last night came rushing back to him. His father had decided to give him one last 'lesson' before he left on some business.

Draco was glad to see his father go. It meant less chance of another beating before school started. He had gotten his letter telling him that he was Head Boy roughly a week earlier, and his father had been pleased, for about an hours, than he started on Draco again.

This time about becoming a Death Eater. Something that Draco was dead set against. He may be a Malfoy but he didn't want to be a pure Malfoy if that's what it took. He would never bow down and kiss someone's feet because it counted as family honour.

He had a mind of his own, and he refused to let others tell him how to use it. This subject had earned him a number of lovely little 'lessons'. Lucius just didn't seem to get that no number of these sessions could ever change his mind about this.

Draco knew that he could easily best Lucius in a duel. All knowledge of the dark arts had been passed on to him by Lucius and all the knowledge from Hogwarts combined with all the extra reading he did plus . . . lets just say that he was a lot more knowledgeable than his father.

The prospect of duelling just sickened Draco right through, though. That and the fact that he was still underage were pretty good reasons to not duel his father at this point. He knew he would have to one day but as long as one day wasn't today he was happy.

He got up and walked over to his dresser and pulled out two items. One a silver blade. The other, a bottle of vodka.

He took a drink of the vodka than put it back and took off his watch. He than took the blade and pressed it the pale skin of his wrist. He wanted to see it bleed, and bleed it did.

He only had one scar on his arm from this. Only one for memory. The rest he magically removed at the beginning of each year. The scars that his father left however were a completely different story.

They couldn't be removed. Not by muggle or magical ways. He had tried everything under the sun and yet they still remained and it was driving him insane. He finally gave up on removing them, and just made sure that they were covered up.

He looked at fresh cut and saw that it was still bleeding. He walked over to his bathroom and rinsed it off then took a towel and applied pressure to it.

Draco knew exactly how deep he had to go. He never went farther than that. The bleeding finally ceased and he tossed the towel in the pile by the door. The house elves never noticed what was on them and there was never anyone else in his room so he needn't worry at all.

He went and grabbed some clothes from the dresser and made sure that the blade and vodka were hidden again. Draco turned on the water and let the water cascade down his back, his muscles relaxing just from the warm water.

After dressing, he grabbed a baseball cap and threw it on (**A/N: **I Know I know. He would never do this, but its OOC just remember this).

He walked down that stairs to the living room fire place. Draco grabbed some floo powder and flooed to Diagon Alley to obtain his school supplies.

&&&&**Diagon Alley**&&&&

Hermione eventually found herself standing in Diagon Alley. How she got there, she couldn't remember and she honestly didn't care at this moment. She just glad to be far away from that house.

Ryan and Teresa would be asleep for at least another two hours. But it really wouldn't matter when she got back. As long as it was before 9PM that night when they went to leave for the night. Other than that they would never notice that she was gone.

She walked to Gringotts to get some money from her vault. The one that only she knew about.

She took out what she needed for her school supplies plus a little extra. After wandering and getting almost everything, she headed towards Flourish and Blotts.

She walked in and headed towards the back, when out of no where someone came around the corner and ran straight into her. (**a/n: **I'm sick of Hermione running into him) She almost went toppling over but grabbed on to the persons arm at the right moment.

She was hit with a sudden dizziness and almost passed out right there, but the stranger must of saw this and made her sit there on the floor waiting for it to pass.

She finally looked at the stranger and saw the disturbing blue eyes that she had loathed for so long. Draco Malfoy. A sudden anger flashed through her but she didn't show it.

Draco looked at the person in front of him. She looked remarkably like Granger but there was no way. Granger had bushy brown hair, not straight, black hair. But he saw her eyes and knew it was her. It was the girl he had loathed for so long.

Hermione glared at him before standing up and turning to walk away when she heard two all to familiar voices.

"I told her that we would meet her here" Harry insisted.

"I understand that but are you sure you gave her the right date?" Ron questioned.

"Yes Ron, yes. I promise you I did. I've written so many times and I never got a reply.

And if I'm right, you never got one either"

Hermione stood frozen on the spot. She would've moved but she was afraid that it would draw attention to her. That they would see her.

She had to come up with a story to tell them by the time vacation ended. Something that they would believe.

Finally the voices started to move away until they were completely gone and she heard the bells on the door jingle signalling that they left.

"O my god. That was way to close. Now what to tell them" Hermione started muttering to herself.

"You know Granger, that really cant be healthy. Talking to yourself" Draco smirked at her.

"Fuck off Malfoy, I cant deal with you today" Hermione snapped.

"I'm wounded Granger" Draco responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just go to hell Malfoy"

"Been there done that"

"Whatever" Hermione breathed. She pushed past him, got what she needed and left.

Walking out of Diagon Alley, she looked all around her making sure that Harry and Ron were nowhere in sight.

Draco stood in the store for a few minutes, stunned at the girl that had just left. She had developed a back bone. A _strong _back bone. This was going to make his year fun. Lots of fun.

(Edited August 23 2005)


	2. Chapter 2

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books

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__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Hermione glared at him before standing up and turning to walk away when she heard two all to familiar voices.

"I told her that we would meet her here" Harry insisted.

"I understand that but are you sure you gave her the right date?" Ron questioned.

"Yes Ron, yes. I promise you I did. I've written so many times and I never got a reply.

And if I'm right, you never got one either"

Hermione stood frozen on the spot. She would've moved but she was afraid that it would draw attention to her. That they would see her.

She had to come up with a story to tell them by the time vacation ended. Something that they would believe.

Finally the voices started to move away until they were completely gone and she heard the bells on the door jingle signalling that they left.

__

"O my god. That was way to close. Now what to tell them" Hermione started muttering to herself.

"You know Granger, that really cant be healthy. Talking to yourself" Draco smirked at her.

"Fuck off Malfoy, I cant deal with you today" Hermione snapped.

"I'm wounded Granger" Draco responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just go to hell Malfoy"

__

"Been there done that"

"Whatever" Hermione breathed. She pushed past him, got what she needed and left.

Walking out of Diagon Alley, she looked all around her making sure that Harry and Ron were nowhere in sight.

Draco stood in the store for a few minutes, stunned at the girl that had just left. She had developed a back bone. A strong back bone. This was going to make his year fun. Lots of fun.

&&&&&

Hermione looked around her. It was September first and she couldn't believe that she had made it again. She had made it through yet another summer of hell.

There were kids, new and old, saying good bye to their families one last time before boarding the train. Hermione glanced around right before boarding to see if she could see the Weasley's, but there was no red-hair to be seen. _Probably late again, _she thought.

She headed for the Head compartment. She was in high hopes of getting some sleep before the train arrived at the Hogsmeade station. She hadn't slept much over the past week, unless you counted passing out from pain.

She certainly wouldn't get that sharing a compartment with Harry and Ron. They would ask how her summer went, why she didn't reply to their letters, why she didn't meet them etc. and she really didn't feel like dealing with that today.

She found the compartment, thankfully empty. This meant that she could fix some of the cuts and cover up what was already set in stone. Then she could curl up and sleep with no disturbances.

Hermione pulled out her wand and started to cover-up her bruises and cuts. About 10 minutes later everything that could be done was done. She had left her arms for the time being because she was just to tired to finish it all. Anyway, she was wearing long sleeves so no one would ever notice.

She finally started to fall asleep. When she was between the real and dream realms, someone walked in and sat down. She never saw who and was sound asleep before she could open her mouth to ask.

&&&

Draco looked at Hermione sound asleep in the seat across from his.

__

Just my luck, the mudblood's Head Girl. Should've known though, she's only top student with a near perfect record. Draco rolled his eyes and took a book out.

They rode like this for most of the trip. It wasn't until about 20 minutes before the end that Hermione started to stir. Draco looked up from his book, startled.

First thing he saw was Hermione's exposed arm. Cuts, bruises and all. He looked up at her face to see her coming back into reality.

He buried himself back in the book, as if he had never seen anything, but one would've seen a glitter of amazement in his eyes if you had looked. Just a glitter though. _Grangers not perfect_ kept running through his head.

Hermione finally dragged herself out of her slumber and back into the world she wanted so desperately to escape from. She glanced up to see Malfoy sitting there.

__

What the hell? He wasn't there when I came in. She shook her head as a sudden dizzy spell came over her. These seemed to be hitting her more and more often as of late.

Finally it passed and she got her robe out of her bag and just threw it on over her clothes, not really feeling like getting up to change. Malfoy glanced up to see what the sudden movement was but then ducked back into his book, not really caring.

Hermione took out a book, and again silence filled the compartment until it rolled to a stop.

Hermione jumped up and grabbed her bag and took off, wanting to get off the train and fast. Just when she jumped out she heard her name.

"Mia!" She glanced around to see Eva (pronounced Ava) running towards her at full speed.

"Oh my god. I missed you so much" the girl squealed, pulling Hermione into a death grip.

Hermione winced at the contact; still a little tender but hugged back her friend. Eva was a seventh year Ravenclaw that Hermione had become very close with over the past couple of years.

She had blond hair that was pulled back in a high pony tail and hazel eyes to die for. She stood about 5"6', same height as Hermione. They had met in the library ironically. Hermione was trying to get as far away from Harry and Ron as she could and it was too cold and late to go outside. Eva had been in there studying and some how they had started talking. They'd been friends ever since.

Hermione let go only to find herself pulled into another hug. This one was way worse, and Hermione knew that she would be in pain tonight but she couldn't be happier when she saw who it was. It was Eva's twin brother, Luke.

Sure he was a Slytherin, but he wasn't like the rest. Well, not _exactly_ like the rest. He had the cunning and sly part down perfect, just the predacious part. He couldn't care less that Hermione wasn't a pure blood. His only real down fall was that he was friends with Malfoy, but she could look past that.

As much as she loved Harry and Ron, they would never understand her the way that Eva and Luke did. Luke and Eva would listen to her and they would give her good advice. They never asked for help with work and made Hermione feel perfectly safe.

Harry and Ron seemed to only really talk to her when they needed help or advice. She would never leave them but she needed help and advice sometimes too. She needed to know that she was loved.

They walked to the carriages, arms linked together. Hermione sighed as she remembered that she had to ride in the Head carriage. She said her good byes, and promised to meet them later that night, after finding out where her new rooms were.

She watched out the window and waited for Malfoy to get there so that she could get to the castle and spend as little time as possible in his presence. Finally he entered, though he looked in deep thought.

Draco looked at Hermione, only to see that her eyes were closed and her head tilted back. He couldn't believe that prefect Granger wasn't perfect. She had as many problems as he did, or it looked like she did.

__

Perfect. An opportunity for blackmail, he thought as an evil grin passed over his face.

As the carriage started to roll to a stop Hermione looked up to see Malfoy starring at her.

"Yes?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing Mudblood"

"Whatever Malfoy. I don't want to deal with your shit right now" she muttered as she went to jump out.

"Hermione!" Hermione whirled around to see Harry and Ron running towards her.

"Hey you guys" she smiled as they pulled her into a hug. Thankfully, this was just a loose one, a form of saying hi. She glanced over Harry's shoulder and saw Eva passing by with Luke, chuckling.

"I'll meet you later" she mouthed to them before sticking out her tongue in a childish retaliation.

Finally, they made it into the Great Hall, where all the questioning started. While most people would take a hint, they just didn't seem to pick up on it.

__

"God, Malfoy's more perceptive that this" she grumbled.

"What was that?" Ron asked.

"Nothing, nothing" she responded, getting annoyed.

"Hermione, seriously, what happened to you this summer?" Harry asked for what must have been the eighth time.

"I was busy alright? Is that good enough for you?" she snapped at him.

Harry looked rather taken aback by her tone. "Sorry. God, didn't mean to offend you, your highness"

"Look Harry, I'm sorry. I just didn't sleep well last night ok? I honestly didn't mean to snap, just please stop with the questions tonight"

"Alright, but you have some major explaining to do. You didn't answer any of our letters or anything this summer, than you went and blew us off in Diagon Alley. I mean, we're just worried. The least you could've done was owled us. That would've been common courtesy, but no. Nothing."

"Harry, I got your god damn point alright! Jesus, don't you know when to lay off. Take the fucking hint! I don't want to talk about my summer right now. Just give it a rest"

Harry and Ron starred at Hermione wide-eyed and speechless. "Did I finally get through your thick heads?" Hermione growled at them. They nodded their heads, and quickly turned around to listen to Dumbledore start his speech.

Hermione survived through the rest of dinner, though conversation was very tense. All she wanted was to visit Eva and Luke and get back to her dorm for her prized possession. Her knife.

She craved the feeling of the cold steel against her skin like someone would crave a specific flavour of ice cream.

The sorting, speeches, announcement and presentation of Head Badges and dinner eventually ended. In all honesty, Hermione had never been happier to get away.

She met Dumbledore who led her and Malfoy to the Head common room. He explained how to make a password then left on some other business.

Draco looked up at Granger and saw that she was anxious to get away, and all he wanted was to go and get his alcohol for all the pain.

"Endless Pain?" he suggested.

"Yeah sure whatever"

She was gone the moment it was set, not even going in to look around. "Stupid bitch" Draco mumbled, walking in and heading right for his room. It really didn't bother him that she wasn't there; it meant he could get started so much faster.

Hermione rushed to meet Eva and Luke, wanting it to be over and done with. An hour later she walked back to her quarters (**a/n: **I think that's the right one) the craving even stronger than before.

When she walked in she saw Malfoy on the couch, but didn't notice anything else, just wanting to get her blade. Finally, she felt the pressure and her pain began to leave. She didn't care about physical pain, she was used to that.

Three slits later, she walked out of her room and into the bathroom. She grabbed a cloth and wet it, applying pressure to the bleeding wounds. Exiting, she saw that Malfoy had something in his hand.

She stepped closer, and saw that it was a bottle of vodka. _So that's why he's so far gone_. _That's a really good idea, I sure could use some of that right now._

"Malfoy"

"What do you want Granger?" he growled, his head still leaned back, eyes closed.

"Any of that left?"

"You drink? The perfect Mudblood bitch drinks? Alert the press" he opened his eyes just enough, to make out her face.

"Shut the fuck up. I asked if you had any left"

"Yeah plenty"

"Can I have some?"

"What for? I mean, there has to be a reason. I can't see you drinking for nothing"

"Malfoy, just give me some" annoyance apparent in her voice.

"Fine, as long as you promise to shut up"

"Yeah yeah, just hand it over"

Draco, though reluctant, accio-ed another bottle and handed it to her. Though still curious as to why she wanted it, though at the moment, if it shut her up, he would do anything. He just wanted to finish his in peace.

Hermione opened the bottle and downed quite a bit of it. She crossed the room and sat on the other green couch. She looked around for the first time. There was a green and a red couch on each side of the room and two black arm chairs in front of the fire place. There were four doors. The one leading out, one with Hermione's name on it, one with Draco's name on it and one that led to the bathroom.

The walls were simple. Just the four house colours, though Hermione really wished that it was just Slytherins colours. They were darker than Gryffindors and they would be much easier on the eyes in the event of a hang-over.

Roughly two hours later, the two were still sitting in silence, both bottles lying on the floor, completely empty. Both could hold their liquor amazingly well, but they'd both been drinking a lot longer then the other would ever have guessed.

Around 2, Hermione got up and wandered to her room, collapsing on her bed. She made a quick mental note to change her room colours the next day, then passed out, this time though, it wasn't from pain. A nice change, it you asked him.

&&&&&

__

Hey, I'm writing this late and not as depressed as usual, so it's not quite as good as the first, but I think you'll live. If you read my other fic, you would know that I **can't **stand Harry and Ron. Their annoying if you ask me. I got rid of them once, but I'm not decided on if I will again.

Well, I'll give warning now, that after next Monday I won't be updating a whole hell of a lot as I have midterms. But I promise to update when I can.

Pure Mudblood

__

Edited on August 23, 2005.


	3. Chapter 3

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Draco, though reluctant, accio-ed another bottle and handed it to her. Though still curious as to why she wanted it, though at the moment, if it shut her up, he would do anything. He just wanted to finish his in peace.

Hermione opened the bottle and downed quite a bit of it. She crossed the room and sat on the other green couch. She looked around for the first time. There was a green and a red couch on each side of the room and two black arm chairs in front of the fire place. There were four doors. The one leading out, one with Hermione's name on it, one with Draco's name on it and one that led to the bathroom.

The walls were simple. Just the four house colours, though Hermione really wished that it was just Slytherins colours. They were darker than Gryffindors and they would be much easier on the eyes in the event of a hang-over.

Roughly two hours later, the two were still sitting in silence, both bottles lying on the floor, completely empty. Both could hold their liquor amazingly well, but they'd both been drinking a lot longer then the other would ever have guessed.

Around 2, Hermione got up and wandered to her room, collapsing on her bed. She made a quick mental note to change her room colours the next day, then passed out, this time though, it wasn't from pain. A nice change, it you asked him.

&&&&

Hermione rolled out of bed exactly 20 minutes before her first class, with a head ache like none other. She groaned, it hurt to move, it hurt to touch, it hurt think. God, it just hurt.

Somehow she found her way in and out of the shower, and dressed in under ten minutes. How this happened, she was never able to recall, but she just filed it away under pure luck.

Draco walked out of his room to find Hermione sprawled out on the couch, head tilted back, eyes closed. (**A/n: **okay, so I use this a lot in this story. Deal with it) She glanced up to see who was there but groaned when the light met her eyes.

"God, who made this room so god damn bright?" she muttered.

Draco had to agree, it was god awful in here and it wasn't good for a hang-over.

"A little sick this morning Granger?" an eyebrow raised, an annoying habit that he couldn't break for the life of him.

"Go the fuck away Malfoy" she managed to grumble.

"You do know that we have Potions in 7 minutes right?" Draco questioned, not knowing why he was letting her know.

"Oh shit" she muttered, getting up and grabbing her bag. She turned before walking out, muttering something that sounded like a "thanks"

Hermione reached the class just in time, and thought she was going to die when Snape came in yelling. She cursed, wishing she could remember how to get rid of a hang-over. It had just been so long since she had had to use it.

Malfoy walked in, 20 minutes late and all he got was a look, nothing more. No detention nothing. This got Harry and Ron started and 30 points deducted from Gryffindor along with a detention.

Hermione put her head on her desk, just wanting class to end. Something as small as someone breathing was multiplying her head-ache.

"Miss Granger!" Snape snapped

"What?" Hermione snapped back, annoyed to be taken away from her semi-quiet world.

Snape looked taken aback, didn't even bother taking points. Just repeated the question, and she spouted off some answer, though if you asked her two minutes later she couldn't tell you what she was asked or how she answered.

She groaned, and put her head back on the desk.

"Hermione, you okay?" Harry whispered, though she could've sworn that he was yelling. She had never had a hang-over quite this bad. What the hell was actually in those bottles?

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just go back to your work before Snape catches you talking" she muttered.

Harry complied, though he and Ron kept shooting her worried looks. She did the potion perfectly, and finally the awful class ended. The day continued just like this. Most of the teachers just went over what they would be doing during the year. After what seemed like days, classes ended.

She fed Ron and Harry some lame excuse and headed straight for her dorm, collapsing in one of the chairs in front of the fire. She starred at that fire, and finally the head-ache started to subside.

The flames danced before her eyes, almost like they were performing some kind of ritual, with no particular order to their movements. They brought her peace of mind, something that she had forgotten she could feel.

She never heard anyone enter. Draco stood, watching the girl in front him. She was the first person he had found in ages that he couldn't tell what they were always thinking. He had never really noticed this. The last time that he had paid enough attention to her to notice, had been around third year.

He had focused on Potter and Weasley more since then. Always making sure to bug them, as he was able to get them riled up more. But he couldn't read her anymore, in any way.

She really bothered him. Never before had he wanted to know what went through someone's mind as much as he did now. He hated her with a passion, yet he found that he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"How long are you going to stand there like that Malfoy? I mean, I know that I'm fascinating, but please, take a picture, they really do last longer" Hermione didn't even bother looking up from the fire. She had felt his gaze on her for awhile now. She wasn't sure when he had walked in, and she really didn't care, she just wanted him to leave.

Though she would never admit it, it unnerved her to have him watching her so intently. She didn't like having someone doing that. She felt like that if she ever met his eyes, he could unlock things that had been hidden from the world for a reason.

"Really Granger, you are paranoid aren't you? Who ever said I was starring at you?" he questioned, trying to figure out how she knew that he was there.

Hermione looked up at him and simply shook her head before turning back to the fire. "Malfoy, do me a favour and fuck off. I was perfectly peaceful here before you entered. And _no _I'm not paranoid."

Draco stood shocked for a second. He remembered that she had spoken to him like this before, but never thought that she would carry on with it. Apparently, she had a back bone. _Wouldn't know it, the way that she hides behind Potter and Weasley_

"What the hell happened to you this summer?" the words out before he even knew what he was doing.

Hermione's head snapped up. "Mind your own damn business Malfoy"

Draco shrugged, as if nothing had fazed him. "No one, and I mean _no one, _tells me what to do Mudblood"

"Malfoy, keep out of my business and I'll keep out of yours. Understood?" she again turned away from him.

"I told you, no one tells me what to do. I'll figure out what happened to you Granger, I guarantee it"

"Fine then, I want to know what happened to you this summer"

"Mind your own business Granger"

Hermione smirked and raised an eyebrow, though still starred at the dancing flames. "Amazing how roles suddenly reversed themselves isn't it Malfoy?"

Draco scowled at her, before walking over to his room and slamming the door shut.

"Fuck you too Malfoy" Hermione muttered

__

Why is she bugging me so much? I've never given a shit about her and then I see a few scars and changes in Gryffindors most untouchable girl and I have to know everything. **You have to admit, it's bugging you. There's something about her that intrigues you. **Fuck you, I couldn't careless for the Mudblood. **Whatever.**

Suddenly Draco heard his name being called. "Malfoy, visitors"

Draco walked out to see that Hermione was still watching the fire, but chatting with the Laurthians and Dallis Cade, another fellow Slytherin.

"Malfoy" Luke nodded his head in acknowledgement that he had entered the room.

"Laurthian, Cade, Eva" he causally greeted.

"Hey Malfoy, I heard that you've been harassing my best friend here" Eva said, nodding to Hermione.

"Oh really" he turned to Granger. "Pray tell, what have I done today?"

Hermione just shook her head, not feeling like responding. She got up out of the chair and laid down on the couch beside Luke.

"Hey, Mia, something wrong?" Luke asked, motioning for her to move into his area.

"I'm fine" she answered, her voice monotone. She moved her head into Luke's lap and he put a hand on her shoulder, comforting his friend.

Draco raised an eyebrow at this. "Since when are you two going out?" he questioned, taking a spot on the other side of the room.

"Go to hell Malfoy. Ever heard of best friends?" Hermione asked.

"Replacing the wonder team then?"

"You could say that" Hermione shrugged.

They all started talking, like they had been friends forever. The only people that avoided conversation with each other were (obviously) Hermione and Draco. They avoided eye contact and gave short answers whenever asked a question that required an answer from one.

Hermione had gotten used to being around Dallis a long time ago; it was part of being friends with Luke and Eva. He was one of Luke's good friends and Eva's boyfriend.

She happened to like Dallis actually, he was like all other Slytherins, but he still gave her the benefit of the doubt and you could see them all in a group quite often, if you knew the right places to look.

Harry and Ron were so thick-headed that they never realized that they were slowly being replaced. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell them either. She knew that, though she really wanted to keep it, her friendship with Harry and Ron was dwindling to an end.

She avoided hanging out with them when she could, and only stayed with them for short periods of time when it couldn't be avoided. She had made a promise to herself that she would never end their friendship, but it was getting to the point where she didn't think that she would ever have a choice.

"Hey Mia, what's bothering you?"

"Nothing, just thinking"

"'bout what?" Eva was truly worried about Hermione. Her friend was becoming increasingly quieter and it just wasn't like her. She almost never raised her hand anymore to answer any questions and never did anything extra credit. She still spoke her mind, always had done that, but now it was only when absolutely necessary.

"Just stuff. Like how I'm going to tell Harry and Ron that it's over. I can't handle being around them any more. They don't know anything about me anymore" she carried on awhile before noticing that the boys had gone quiet and were starring at her.

"What?" she snapped.

"Mia you have to tell them. They need to know that you feel that way. And if it's bothering you this much then you really have no choice but to tell them" Luke commented

"I know, I know. But do you have any idea what it's like to tell your best friends of six years that it's over? I mean, its one of those situation where it sounds easier then it actually is"

Draco remained silent during the whole conversation, never taking his eyes off the girl laying on the couch across from him. He would never have listened this intently before, but it was like she had forgotten that he was sitting there.

Finally he snapped out of it when Dallis called to him. "Hey Malfoy, do you have your stash this year?"

"Of course, why?"

"I think that we could all use some right about now"

"Agreed. Who wants it?"

"Just bring it for all but Mia, she doesn't drink" Luke said. Draco just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Malfoy, bring some for five. I could use it tonight" Hermione said.

Dallis, Eva and Luke starred at her in shock. "What? I changed a little over the summer, deal with it" They shrugged and Dallis got up to help Draco bring it out.

He pulled out 5 bottles and handed three to Dallis to take out while he concealed his hiding spot again.

He came out and handed the last bottle to Eva, who had moved to Dallis's feet, her back propped up with his legs. They all opened they're bottles and took a drink, Hermione and Draco's considerably larger then the others.

They talked for hours, not realizing it. Finally, Dallis, Luke and Eva left, leaving Hermione and Draco on their own again. Only their bottles were finished, the other three had given what was left back to Draco, who would put it away for the next time they came.

"Malfoy, I hate to ask, but do you know any hang-over cures?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do Granger, why do you want to know?"

"Because I honestly don't think I can deal with a head-ache the size of the one I had today. I mean, I've had them before, but never to that degree"

"I know what you mean. I had a killer one the first time I had this stuff too. But I'll show you the spell in the morning, alright?"

"Yeah, ok. Thanks"

They carried on a pretty civilized conversation until around 4, when Hermione finally dozed off on the couch. Draco, not wishing to know what she would be like if he woke her up, accio-ed a blanket and put it over her.

He then cleaned the bottles up and crawled under his forest green comforter. It amazed him that they had carried on a conversation like that, though h knew that it had something to do with all the alcohol in their systems. It would never last to the morning, or to later that morning anyway.

He still loathed her, always would. But somewhere, deep in the depths of his seemingly stone heart, he cared for her on some level, however miniscule that level may be.

The last thing that ran through his mind before falling into a deep slumber was _Thank god tomorrow's Saturday._

&&&&&

__

Okay, so the drinking's becoming regular, but o well, it works right? I promise, changes coming into play soon. I'll try and get at least one more chapter out before the end of break, but that depends on whether or not I get hit with an idea for Giving Up Isn't An Option (Part three of a three part series). If I don't get one out, I will one January 10 or 11. Hope you enjoyed, thanks to reviewers and my beta. Reviews appreciated

Also, Email updates are available_. If you want them then just leave your email in your review._

Pure Mudblood

__

(Edited on August 23 2005)


	4. Chapter 4

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

He pulled out 5 bottles and handed three to Dallis to take out while he concealed his hiding spot again.

He came out and handed the last bottle to Eva, who had moved to Dallis's feet, her back propped up with his legs. They all opened they're bottles and took a drink, Hermione and Draco's considerably larger then the others.

They talked for hours, not realizing it. Finally, Dallis, Luke and Eva left, leaving Hermione and Draco on their own again. Only their bottles were finished, the other three had given what was left back to Draco, who would put it away for the next time they came.

"Malfoy, I hate to ask, but do you know any hang-over cures?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do Granger, why do you want to know?"

"Because I honestly don't think I can deal with a head-ache the size of the one I had today. I mean, I've had them before, but never to that degree"

"I know what you mean. I had a killer one the first time I had this stuff too. But I'll show you the spell in the morning, alright?"

"Yeah, ok. Thanks"

They carried on a pretty civilized conversation until around 4, when Hermione finally dozed off on the couch. Draco, not wishing to know what she would be like if he woke her up, accio-ed a blanket and put it over her.

He then cleaned the bottles up and crawled under his forest green comforter. It amazed him that they had carried on a conversation like that, though h knew that it had something to do with all the alcohol in their systems. It would never last to the morning, or to later that morning anyway.

He still loathed her, always would. But somewhere, deep in the depths of his seemingly stone heart, he cared for her on some level, however miniscule that level may be.

The last thing that ran through his mind before falling into a deep slumber was **Thank god tomorrow's Saturday.**

&&&&&

Hermione rolled out of bed the next morning. Her head pounding yet again, but not quite as bad. She looked at the clock and cursed. It was one in the afternoon. Way to earlier to rise on a Saturday.

She walked out and right into the bathroom, turning the hot water on all the way. She climbed in and let the water cascade down her back and over her muscles. They were amazingly tense.

Finally she forced herself to get out and walked back to her room and changed. She grabbed black track pants, a black T-shirt and a black hooded sweatshirt with the words "**You Don't Know Me**" across the front in white letters. She reached in her trunk and grabbed her runners.

She hadn't been for a run for a while. She hadn't really exercised for a while. For the longest time it had been a form of relaxing escape from her double life.

She walked down the hallway towards the door leading into her sanctuary. Just as she was about to go outside, she heard her name. She turned to see Harry and Ron running towards her.

"Hermione, where the hell have you been?" Harry demanded the minute they reached her.

"Sleeping" Hermione replied simply.

"Hermione, it's almost 2 in the afternoon, and you seriously want us to believe you were sleeping?" Ron questioned.

"Yes I believe I do as I was actually sleeping" Hermione replied, her voice still calm. "I have yet to lie to you, so you have no reason to not believe me. But I guess it's your choice. Now if you would excuse me, I have something I need to do"

Without waiting for their answer she turned and ran. She ran for a good 40 minutes before stopping to conjure something to drink. Her calf muscles ached, but she knew better than to just stop.

Last time she had done that had been the first time she had run like this. She had been in a great amount of physical pain for the next several days.

She forced herself to stand up and go for a walk before she went to the gym that Dumbledore had set up the previous year. It had been a request from her and he had agreed. He hadn't had it open to everyone at first, only Hermione, Luke and Eva and the teachers but he later decided to change that.

Hermione had nicely toned muscles now. She could lift anywhere from 80-100 pounds with great ease and when putting effort into it, she could lift or throw anything that was under 230.

She made her way to the gym. There were a couple people in there. She recognized one seventh year Ravenclaw that she had classes with but that was about it.

She walked over to the high bar and did 20 chin ups before going over to the treadmill to run a little more. She had been in there about half an hour, when Eva walked in.

"Hey Mia" she smiled walking over to where Hermione was on the bench press.

Hermione sat up. "Hey Eva, spot for me?" she phrased it more as a statement than a question. She increased the weight before turning around again and lying on her back.

After 15 minutes and 160 punds of weight, she finally decided to take a break. She got off and they walked over to get some water and Hermione sat on the floor while Eva got on the treadmill.

"How long have you been in here?"

"How long have I been in here or how long have been exercising?"

"Exercising"

She glanced down at her watch "Just over an hour, and I only did a stunted routine" Hermione replied. "It would've been longer in here but Harry and Ron were bugging me this morning and I ran for longer than intended."

"What did they do now?"

"Nothing unusual, but whatever. I can handle them; just I got up early and didn't have a lot of patience for them. I'll deal with them later. I know that they must be freaking out by now"

Eva just shook her head knowing that her chances of getting the full truth weren't very high today. When Hermione got in moods like this, it was best to not push her. She would give you all the information that she felt like disclosing.

Honestly, if Hermione hadn't been Eva's best friend, they would've parted ways a long time ago. Your first impression of Hermione is a book worm who wears their heart on their sleeve. If you stuck around long enough though and actually paid attention to her, you got to see the real Hermione. Someone who loves to let loose and have her opinion be known. There was a wall there though that was seemingly impossible to break.

In fact, Eva could only remember a couple of times when Hermione had let that wall down around anyone. She knew that her friend was hiding something, but she also knew that there was no way to get it out of her. All she could do was sit and wait for Hermione to decide when the right time to tell was.

"Mia I have a meeting with a teacher in about 10 minutes. Why don't you meet me and Luke later? Same place and time as always?"

"Sure, just remember it's your turn"

"I know, I know. Later"

Hermione watched her friend leave. She hadn't moved much in the last 20 minutes, and she could feel her muscles tensing. Hermione's idea of a stunted routine was the average person's idea of a full one. Quite often she would work out for a good 4-5 hours at one time.

She got up and tossed her water bottle before leaving. She didn't feel like doing much more today. Not right now anyway. She could do any stretching in her room.

She walked slowly, not really caring how long it took her to reach her destination. She couldn't get Harry and Ron out of her head. _Mia you have to tell them. _Luke's voice echoed through every corner of her mind. She knew more than anyone that he was right.

They deserved to know. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't tell them to leave her alone. She couldn't tell them to leave and never come back. They had played to big of a part in her life for far too many years. Throwing that away would hurt too much.

She mumbled her password when she finally reached the dorm. She entered and was walking straight to her room when she noticed people talking.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Hermione asked, rather surprised.

"Hey to you too Mia" a smirk playing on Luke's lips.

Hermione playfully stuck her tongue out at her best friend. "Really, what are you doing here?"

"Aren't we allowed to visit fellow Slytherins?" Hermione turned to see Dallis sitting across from Luke.

"Well, duh but I don't exactly see him here. What did he finally get tired of the assholes he surrounds himself with and realize his life long dream of joining the circus?"

"Funny Granger. I always placed you as the one with the dream to join the circus" sarcasm dripping from Draco's voice as he walked out of his room.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and turned to her room so she could shower and stretch before meeting Eva that evening. She grabbed what she needed: her clothes, her towel and her CD player.

"Luke, help a friend?" she asked an eye brow raised.

He got up obligingly and put his hands on her back knowing exactly what she meant.

"Please you two. It's unsightly to do that in the presence of royalty" Draco drawled.

"Malfoy really! God dammit! I thought we made this clear last night, there's nothing going on between us" Hermione eyes flashed for a moment. The emotion was there and gone so fast that Draco had to do a double take to make sure that he had actually seen it.

He watched as Hermione started to lean back. Luke knew exactly where to place his hands so that he wasn't helping her stretch, just making sure she kept her balance.

Luke had taught Hermione how to stretch properly. Most of the time he would stretch with her, unless he was helping. They went through their routine. Stretch after stretch, perfectly in sync.

It amazed Draco. He had never seen Hermione this way. She seemed happy when surrounded by these people. But whenever she was around the wonder boys, she seemed so fake. But he didn't know which was the real her.

He had been doing more thinking about her then he should be, but he couldn't shake it. Couldn't get rid of the feeling that there was so much to this girl. So much that hadn't been seen by anyone.

"How long did you exercise for today Mia?" Luke questioned.

"Just over an hour, but I ran for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40. I full out ran to. Not jogged, ran" Hermione answered.

"Jesus. You're going to have to slow down a little. You'll mess up your ankle if you don't. And as much as we love you, there is no way in hell that Eva and I are going through that again"

Hermione smacked him on the arm, the contact causing Luke's skin to sting.

"Hey what did I ever do to you?"

"Nothing" Hermione got up and headed for the shower, a small smile playing on her lips. She turned back at the door, to see Luke hand gotten up and was heading for the couch. "Oh, meeting tonight Luke. Same time and place as always. Dallis, you can come too, I'm sure Eva wouldn't mind in the least"

With that said, she closed the door, and moments later they heard the water running.

"What the hell was that about Laurthian?" Draco demanded.

"I was helping her stretch. I don't want her to get hurt again" Luke replied with a shrug.

"You know damn well that's not what I meant" Draco scowled at him. He didn't know why he wanted to know so badly. Maybe it was because Hermione had so obviously ignored him.

"Oh that? It's a thing that we do. We found a place to meet whenever; just have to make sure that everyone knows in advance. It was Mia's idea actually. She got sick of us having to chase each other between classes to set up a meeting spot. And it's even harder with her in all the advance classes now, "Luke finished, and turned to Dallis, "You coming Cade?"

"Yeah. I'll meet you tonight so you can show me the way"

"Alright. I'm going to take off" Luke got up and left though the portrait hole. Dallis not too far behind him.

Draco was absolutely fuming. He hated when people ignored him like this. They had no right. He held the highest spot in society in their year, and they dared to ignore him like that. He had never allowed it before and sure as hell wasn't going to now.

He heard the water stop running and minutes later saw Hermione walk out, fully clothed.

"Granger" he snarled.

"What?" Hermione snapped. She was not in the best of moods and just wanted to get out so she could get through the hell that was dinner.

"Where the hell do you get off being like that? You have no right to be that way with me you filthy Mudblood. No right. I'm a higher being than you, simple as that. I could own you if I wanted. If I really wanted you to, I could have you on your hands and knees licking the floor clean" he came closer to her with each word but she stood her ground. Bloody stupid of her if you asked him. She was up against a wall with nowhere to go. Finally, he got her completely cornered, trapped.

"Never call me a Mudblood" she glared at him. "You're the one that doesn't have the right to talk down to me. You'll never own me. You'll never have power over me. Never will I do anything for you"

"You wish Mudblood. If I want you to do something, you'll do it. I have power over you to make you do whatever I want you too. I can make you do anything. I can make you scream out of pain or pleasure. I can make you praise me on your hands and knees. Anything I want, I can make happen"

"In your dreams maybe Malfoy, but never in this reality. Never will I do anything for you. Now move, I have things to do"

"No" Draco replied simply

"Excuse me?" Hermione's eyes lit with amusement.

"I said no. I won't move" he repeated for her

"Last chance Malfoy" a hint of warning in her otherwise controlled voice.

"No. I told you, I'm a higher being then you and I will never do anything that you tell me too. I don't have to. Besides, there's nothing you can do to me. I'm bigger and probably ten times stronger than you"

Hermione just shook her head. "I warned you Malfoy"

Next thing Draco knew he was pinned to the ground, an unbelievable amount of pain running through his left arm. Hermione had grabbed his arm and flipped him, her one arm horizontal across his neck.

"Listen, and listen good. I will never scream for pain. I never did with him, and you're not any different. And I assure you that I will never scream for pleasure, be it innocent or not. Also, I never have and never will be anyone's property. Do you understand?" Not waiting for his answer, she let him go and turned to the portrait hole.

Draco lay, dazed for a few minutes. Eventually he got up and left for dinner, following the same path that he been taken only minutes before. Upon reaching the Great Hall he saw that Hermione was present, a fake smile on her face.

Not a single person at the Slytherin table noticed him nursing his left arm. That or they didn't want to say anything. Luke wasn't there, and Dallas was sitting with Eva. But even if they had been at the table, they would've been insane to say anything to him. Anyone could see that he was in a bad mood, and Draco Malfoy was always best avoided when in a foul moods.

He sat there, picking at his food when he saw Dallas and Eva leave, than about 5 minutes later Hermione got up. He got up too, and followed her out. He wanted more then ever to find out where they were going.

Hermione stopped at the gym knowing that was where Luke would be. It was a bad habit that they both had. Missing meals, losing track of time, anything like that. They would start exercising and forget about the world that surrounded them. When exercising, all that existed was you and your heartbeat.

She was still pretty angry from what had happened back in the common room, but she would never say anything to anyone. She masked her anger, and there was no way that anyone would ever figure out that there was anything wrong. That was the way she liked it. She hated people asking her if she was alright.

Luke glanced up as Hermione came over with a bottle of water for him. He got off the treadmill and they walked out.

Draco followed them. There was silence in the corridor. Not a single word was spoken until they reached where they needed to be. All Draco could see was a wall. But moments later, Hermione and Luke had disappeared through it.

Draco stood there, staring at it. He should've figured that it was a hidden room. Hermione was smart enough to figure out that that would be the safest place for them to meet and not get caught.

"Hey Malfoy, what are you doing?" Draco whirled around to see Eva and Dallis standing behind him.

"I was…" he began, but he was at a complete loss for words. No plausible excuse would come.

"This had to be a first. Draco Malfoy at a loss for words" Dallis taunted.

"Shut up Cade" Draco shot at him, knowing it was a crappy comeback.

"You followed them didn't you?" Eva asked.

"Yeah so?"

"One sec. Dallis wait out here for a second, you wont be able to get in yet any way" Eva disappeared through the wall, carrying two bags that Draco had just noticed.

She came out seconds later with Hermione. "Mia has to invite you in. There no other way to get in" (**a/n: **It's kind of like a secret keeper but isn't. You see, there's no password or anything. Hermione just happened to be the one to find the place so only people that she wants in there are allowed to be in there. Don't ask)

"I'll let you in, if you explain what he's doing here" Hermione spoke to Dallis.

"We found him here. Apparently he followed you guys." Dallis explained "Speaking of which, I'm assuming Luke is in there"

"Yeah. Go on in, I'll join you in a minute" she gave Dallis permission

"Listen Malfoy, I don't want you in here. However, it's not my decision alone. Yes, only I can give you permission to enter, but it has to be decided by everyone on whether or not they want you in there. Wait here" she disappeared and left Draco standing there, waiting.

He looked down at his arm to see that there a bruise forming on his wrist. Judging from the pain that shot up and down his back when he leaned up against the wall, there was probably a few there too. Damn she was strong.

He stood there for a good 15- 20 minutes before Hermione emerged again.

"Well" he questioned. If she said no, then there was nothing he could do. He refused to beg.

"You may come in, but be warned over step your boundaries once and I'll have you out so quick that you wont know what happened to you. That means no degrading comments towards me. When you're in here, it's neutral. Do you understand?"

Draco just nodded and Hermione moved, signalling that he could go through. When he walked in, he saw a room with smooth stone walls, covered with pieces of parchment.

One read:

What happens here

Why does it exist

Really it's not fair

To suffer this

It's a disease

But most don't know

They don't call it that

They just shut up and go

It rots inside

And the pressure stays

Its just increases

Over too many lost days

The signs aren't there

Unless you look hard

And most don't expect

A loved one to be given that card

But its there

Hidden under the surface

Full of scars

No one expected this

It's to late now

To fix it all

So they decide

To let them take the fall

What's wrong with this picture?

Not seen with the naked eye

Fear and loss

This was your last chance to say good bye

Another read:

****

Life

A peaceful daydream

Many believe

Truly a nightmare

For those with the disease

It isn't deadly

If caught on time

A promise of life

Too many were fed that line

It isn't cancer

Nor is it fate

It just happens

People just fall into this state

All it takes is pressure

To truly set it off

Just a little

Even when you believe it's soft

Just keep telling everyone

That they really are alright

Just some treatment

And the life will shine bright

Too many hear this

But it never sinks in

Until the consequences

Face them in the shape of their own kin.

He heard someone clear their throat from behind him.

"Do you plan on joining us anytime soon?" Eva asked as she set out bowls of things out on the table that was surrounded by several armchairs and sofas. When he looked closer, he saw that it was all junk food. Muggle and wizard.

He took the hint and sat down on one of the sofas. "Sorry, I was just reading a couple of those. They're pretty good, who did them?"

"I did and it would do you good to never tell anyone outside of these walls of them. And keep in mind, anything said in here stays in here. Also, just because you're in here doesn't mean that you'll always be invited. I didn't want you to come in. Unfortunately, we're a democracy and they all see no reason to say no" Hermione's voice cool, but her expression showed that she wasn't happy with the decision, but she had no choice in the matter.

Draco knew then that she hadn't told them of the earlier incident. He wasn't going to change the fact that they didn't know either. He wasn't about to admit that a Mudblood had bested him, though from the looks of it she had probably done the same to Dallis and Luke before.

Hermione had hung her poems in here for a long time. She had never intended them to be read though. She had started coming in here before she even met Luke and Eva. By the time they had started using this room as their meeting spot, there were just too many up to take them down. She had made it clear to them that no one was to know that she did this in her spare time. A lot of the time that she had told Harry and Ron she was doing homework, she had been writing.

Hermione looked around, and was struck with a sudden urge to laugh. Here they were; a Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor and three Slytherins. There couldn't have been an odder group of people in the school. Two hated each other, two were going out and one just happened to be the one that tied them all together.

In the beginning she had only been friend with Eva and then Luke just kind of came along. There wasn't anything that you could do in that situation anyway. And then Dallis and Eva started going out, including Dallis in the group. Malfoy though, wasn't part of the group. He was more like an outsider looking in on them.

She felt comfortable here though. Among these people. Her worst enemy or not, she felt semi-safe with him around now. It sounded stupid, yeah. But there was no chance of him trying to hurt her, not after what happened earlier. Also, as she watched him interact, she saw him slowly relaxing into his surroundings.

Draco seemed to forget who surrounded him that even. Seemed to forget everything. He was just able to act like carefree teenager. From about the age of 7 he had been taught to act like an adult. He had had virtually no child hood and even less of an adolescence, so these moments were nice.

Hermione reached forward and grabbed the bowl of Gummie Bears at the same time as Draco.

"Granger, I want those"

"Nope. Sorry. I laid claim on these a long time ago. I get them every time Eva brings them as she never remembers to bring the Nibs."

"Weren't you ever taught to share?"

"No. And from the looks of you I would say you weren't taught to either" Hermione shot back.

"True, but come on. They're the best thing here and I want 'em"

"Malfoy don't fight her on this. Trust me" Dallis cut in. "I mean, I fought her for them one time at the end of last year, and I thought she was going to kill me, she fights for her sweets. Literally"

"I'm with Dallis on this one Malfoy. I taught the girl how to fight and I'll openly admit that she can beat even me now. She's freakishly strong" Luke put in.

"Don't I know it" Draco mumbled, unconsciously grabbing his wrist.

Hermione's gaze shot down to it and she started laughing uncontrollably. Why she didn't know. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had bested Draco Malfoy, the supposed strongest, fiercest student in Hogwarts.

In the end she won the Gummie Bear fight and Draco settled on Sour Skittles, though that's not to say that he didn't fight for the Gummie Bears. God no. He and Hermione must've fought back and forth for half an hour before he realized there was no way to win.

The other three sat, watching to two banter. It amused them actually that they could go on like that. For enemies, they got along pretty well. The more you looked at them and listened, the more similarities showed through. Of course, outside of these walls, they fought to the bitter end.

But for that evening, they had fun. At one point they had removed all the couches, and Hermione sparred with each person there, winning each time. The only person that she was even close to evenly matched was Draco.

It was here that Draco figured out just how far he could push this girl. What to say in order for her to get angry and what to say so that she would go far enough to hurt him.

He had been brought up to never hit a girl (though his father never honoured that). But he realized that Hermione wasn't your average girl.

He noticed, like the others did, that when you hit her in certain places, she would flinch, but keep on going like nothing had happened. He noticed though, that the places that hurt, weren't from normal sparring or working out. Many bruises had ended up in the same areas on him. This is when the comment, _I will never scream for pain. I never did with him, and you're not any different, _made sense to him. That's when her personality change and even the smaller changes that he had notices, all clicked together.

She lived a similar hell. She lived the way that he did. Only, she seemed to have learned to cover it up and how to work out her problems much differently then he had. Maybe he would do good to take few pages out of her book for once.

One by one, they all eventually dropped off to sleep. Hermione was the last to go. She was curled up on the sofa next to Luke. She always took a place next to him. Especially ever since Dallis had come into the group.

True, this is the first time that Dallis had been in here, but he fit here now. In fact, Draco even fit here now. She looked around, and saw Draco curled up, right across from her. He wasn't quite asleep yet, though. From the looks of it he was in the realm that existed between the two. The one that she hated, but fell into almost every night.

This realm holds the most vivid dreams. And when you're in it, you never seem to truly sleep. Finally, her eyelids fell, seemingly to heavy to keep open anymore.

&&&&

__

Hey! How many of you want to hurt me? Especially if your following the other story. I do believe that this it the longest I've ever gone without updating. But I have reasons, First of all: WRITERS BLOCK! You have no clue how bad it was this time. Seriously, I must have re-did this chapter like 3 times before I came up with this. That's why the beginning a little more telling then just plain descriptive. Also I had mid-terms over during the last week of January and I just started a new job. So I've had like no time lately. But I'll try and get another chapter out, but you might have to wait a couple of weeks, as I'm devoting this weekend to GUIAO.

Also, if your new here welcome I hope your enjoying. If you've followed this or any of my stories before and have reviewed or not, thanks for being so faithful. I love you all!

****

Email Update Alerts are Available. Just leave your email address in your review or request one and I'll get it off your profile (for signed ones only).

Till Next Time (which I'm hoping is in the foreseeable furture)

Pure Mudblood

PS- The chapter length is a rarity and it may **never **happen again! Just so your warned.

(Edited on August 23 2005)


	5. Chapter 5

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Hermione reached forward and grabbed the bowl of Gummie Bears at the same time as Draco.

"Granger, I want those"

"Nope. Sorry. I laid claim on these a long time ago. I get them every time Eva brings them as she never remembers to bring the Nibs."

"Weren't you ever taught to share?"

"No. And from the looks of you I would say you weren't taught to either" Hermione shot back.

"True, but come on. They're the best thing here and I want 'em"

"Malfoy don't fight her on this. Trust me" Dallis cut in. "I mean, I fought her for them one time at the end of last year, and I thought she was going to kill me, she fights for her sweets. Literally"

"I'm with Dallis on this one Malfoy. I taught the girl how to fight and I'll openly admit that she can beat even me now. She's freakishly strong" Luke put in.

"Don't I know it" Draco mumbled, unconsciously grabbing his wrist.

Hermione's gaze shot down to it and she started laughing uncontrollably. Why she didn't know. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had bested Draco Malfoy, the supposed strongest, fiercest student in Hogwarts.

In the end she won the Gummie Bear fight and Draco settled on Sour Skittles, though that's not to say that he didn't fight for the Gummie Bears. God no. He and Hermione must've fought back and forth for half an hour before he realized there was no way to win.

The other three sat, watching to two banter. It amused them actually that they could go on like that. For enemies, they got along pretty well. The more you looked at them and listened, the more similarities showed through. Of course, outside of these walls, they fought to the bitter end.

But for that evening, they had fun. At one point they had removed all the couches, and Hermione sparred with each person there, winning each time. The only person that she was even close to evenly matched was Draco.

It was here that Draco figured out just how far he could push this girl. What to say in order for her to get angry and what to say so that she would go far enough to hurt him.

He had been brought up to never hit a girl (though his father never honoured that). But he realized that Hermione wasn't your average girl.

He noticed, like the others did, that when you hit her in certain places, she would flinch, but keep on going like nothing had happened. He noticed though, that the places that hurt, weren't from normal sparring or working out. Many bruises had ended up in the same areas on him. This is when the comment, I will never scream for pain. I never did with him, and you're not any different, made sense to him. That's when her personality change and even the smaller changes that he had notices, all clicked together.

She lived a similar hell. She lived the way that he did. Only, she seemed to have learned to cover it up and how to work out her problems much differently then he had. Maybe he would do good to take few pages out of her book for once.

One by one, they all eventually dropped off to sleep. Hermione was the last to go. She was curled up on the sofa next to Luke. She always took a place next to him. Especially ever since Dallis had come into the group.

True, this is the first time that Dallis had been in here, but he fit here now. In fact, Draco even fit here now. She looked around, and saw Draco curled up, right across from her. He wasn't quite asleep yet, though. From the looks of it he was in the realm that existed between the two. The one that she hated, but fell into almost every night.

This realm holds the most vivid dreams. And when you're in it, you never seem to truly sleep. Finally, her eyelids fell, seemingly to heavy to keep open anymore.

&&&&

Hermione groaned as she looked at the clock on Monday morning. It was 7:30 already, meaning that she had exactly an hour and a half to get ready for class; this included eating, showering, and dressing. Sure, this sounded easy enough, but Malfoy spent like 45 minutes in the bathroom every morning and if she didn't get in there quick enough she would have to wait. She was lucky today though. Draco was just coming out as she came out of her room.

"Granger" he sneered. Despite what had taken place on Saturday, when the whole group had so seemingly bonded, Hermione and Draco still fought like there was no tomorrow.

Hermione just glared back as she headed for the bathroom door. She was too tired to say anything even semi-sarcastic right now. She still couldn't believe that she had been the one to let him in. They had woken up on Sunday morning and the first thing that happened was a fight. Draco said something that Hermione didn't agree with.

It had all started out as a "friendly" debate, but it had escalated from there. They fought for a good hour before the other three final stepped in. They never would've, as it's never good to get in between Hermione and someone she's fighting with because more than likely they'll get hurt, but they had to. Too bad it didn't help much.

First Dallis got in her way, and next thing he knew he was laying on his back on one of the couches. Next was Luke and Draco blessed him with a black eye. Last Eva had tried desperately to reason with her, but that just caused more problems. Normally, Hermione would resist when hurting Eva, but not this time. Hermione had pushed her friend out of the way, then, against the advice of her brother, she got in between Hermione and Draco again. Hermione had lost it at the point. She didn't even remember how, but the next thing she knew, Eva was on the floor, holding her ankle. They later found out that it had been broken. Ironically enough, both Draco and Hermione came out of the whole thing without so much as a scratch.

Hermione felt bad for what she had done to her friends, but in her eyes they deserved it. They never should of come between her and Malfoy. She had warned them before. After that warning, it had only happened once up until recent. Luke had seen her fighting with Harry and Ron in the halls and, noticing her stance, had come between them. He had come out of that with a broken rib.

Hermione stepped out of the common room at 8:15, just starting to really wake up. She headed for the Great Hall. Usually, she would have sat with Eva today, but due to the circumstances, she opted for sitting with Harry and Ron.

"Hey guys" she greeted, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Morning Hermione. Did you sleep last night?" Harry questioned

"Why?"

"Because you look like crap" Ron put in, receiving an elbow in the side from Harry. "Hey, well she does" he mumbled, rubbing his side.

"I love you too Ron" Hermione glared at her once-friend. She found this so hard, pretending to be someone she's not. At least with the other three, she can show some of the real her.

Harry just shook his head. They finished breakfast with a whole bunch of meaningless conversation. Finally, it was time for class.

"Why do we always get potions with Slytherins?" Ron whined, as they made their way down to the dungeons.

"Because our houses have the most rivalry. Dumbledore thinks that this is good for us" Hermione answered matter-of-factly. She had to say something smart at some point today.

Five minutes later, Snape breezed into the room, his usual scowl on his face. But when he reached the front of the class it had turned into an evil smile.

"Partners," he started, "one from each house" They all sat there waiting for him to tell them who their partners would be this year. "Well, we don't have all day. I trust your mature enough to choose your own partners" Snape snapped at them.

They all got up and moved to pick a partner before Snape changed his mind. Hermione went and sat down beside Luke. As always, Dallis and Draco were partners because there were more Slytherins than there were Gryffindors. (**a/n: **I'm so sick of Hermione and Draco being paired up together)

Hermione left the Potions room as fast as she could when the bell rang, not wanting to talk to Harry or Ron. She didn't know why, but being around them today was just to hard. She couldn't handle it right now.

She went through the motions of her everyday life for the rest of that day, managing to avoid Harry and Ron. It really wasn't that hard, the only classes that she shared with them was Potions and Transfiguration, but McGonagall had sent Hermione on one of her random errands after she finished that days task. She stayed in her dorm all through lunch and after classes were over. But then dinner came. There was no way to avoid it now. And even if she had wanted to stay in her dorm, there's no way Luke would've let her. Luke, quite literally dragged her to the Great Hall.

He wouldn't sit with her though. Said that he had a project or something to talk to a fellow Slytherin about. She walked over to where Harry and Ron were seated, not making eye contact with anyone. She slid silently onto the bench, and scanned the hall, looking for someone, anyone that would be able to get her out of here. The only people she could think of were Luke and Eva. No help there tonight.

She started to tune into the conversation that Harry and Ron were having when she heard her name mentioned. It was about homework or something. Something they needed help with. What else was new?

"I'm not sure you guys. Check it for yourself. Its your homework, your responsibility. Not mine." In all honesty, she didn't even know what subject they had been asking about.

"Hermione, come on, we really need your help. Cant you, I don't know, go to the library and get something for us that can help us?" Ron whined

"No" she answered bluntly. "I have better things to do with my time then doing _your _homework. And why cant you two get off your lazy asses and find something for yourself? I'm not here to do your homework, or to even help you with it. In fact, I don't even know why I'm here. The only thing you guys ever need from me is help to get out of the stupid situations you get yourselves in or help on your homework. Other then that and I may as well be invisible. I mean, if you two were truly my best friends, you could tell me my favourite colour or even my favourite past-time"

"It's yellow and reading Hermione, it always has been" Harry told her, looking very confused.

"Really? I wish someone would've informed me" Hermione's eyebrows were raised, a smirk on her lips and her eyes like stone. "I can tell you three people who would tell you different. Actually, I think I'll take you to them and ask them what I just asked you" She then stood up, and started to walk towards the Slytherin table. She only paused for a moment so that Harry and Ron would see that she was serious. Reluctantly, they stood up and followed her, looking like they were being led towards their death.

Hermione stopped by Luke, Dallis and Draco, who were very involved in a conversation about some Quidditch team.

"Hey guys" Hermione greeted.

They kind of jumped when they heard her voice not really expecting it. They turned towards her, and not even Draco could hide his shock to see Harry and Ron standing behind her.

"What are you doing here Mia?" Luke questioned.

"Nice manners there Luke"

"Well, you don't usually come over here Mia, what else did you expect?"

Hermione pondered that for a moment, "to tell you the truth I'm not sure. But to answer your earlier question, I came over here to prove something to Harry and Ron. What's my favourite colour and my favourite past-time?"

Luke gave her a strange look but still answered her. "It's anything really dark, but you love slate grey and black and you love to work out"

Hermione looked to Dallis, keeping the same blank expression, not saying whether or not he had it right. "Like Luke said, dark. And you love to run" Dallis shrugged as he answered.

"Malfoy, for the fun of it, would you answer my question?" Hermione turned to him, interested to see what he said.

"Granger, any idiot should know this. You love the dark colours, but you love slate grey and black, like Laurthian said but you also love egg plant and navy blue. You love working out, and writing"

Hermione just nodded, "thanks you guys". She then turned and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, Harry and Ron following dejectedly behind.

She stopped at Eva. "Hi E"

Eva turned and looked at Hermione. "Yes?"

"Look, I'm sorry ok, but you shouldn't have gotten in the way. You know how I get"

"I know, I know, but damn Mia, you didn't have to do that"

"You think I meant to? I don't even _remember _doing it"

"Fine, whatever. Now, what did you want?"

"I just wanted to ask you what my favourite colour and past time were. I'm trying to prove something to Harry and Ron"

Eva looked at Harry and Ron with surprise, their presence finally registering. "You're finally doing it?"

"Something like that"

"Ok. Dark, because its you. You're the shadow, and you like that. You like the blackness of night and the greys of the stones. And you love the relief and escape that exercising gives you. And writing. Its your form of communication"

"Thanks Eva" she then turned and headed for the door leading out of the Hall.

It wasn't until she was in the hallway leading to her dorm that she even realized that Harry and Ron were still following her.

"What do you two want?" her voice cold. Emotionless. This was a side of her that they weren't used to.

"To know what the hells going on" Harry's eyes were narrowed to small slits. Ron couldn't even speak.

"What do you mean what the hell's going on? Was it not just spelled out for you in there?"

"What happened to you Hermione? You were fine this morning, then all the sudden, you're avoiding us like the plague and then you start asking us all these questions. How can we know any of this if you don't talk to us anymore?"

"Don't go there. Don't you dare start telling me this is all my fault. I've tried for the past two years to get it through your heads. To get you to open your fucking eyes to the reality that is us. But you wouldn't. The only time you ever talked to me was when you needed help with something. Have you not noticed that I haven't written you guys at all for most of the last couple of summers?"

"We thought you were out of the country and just didn't have time to write us, like you told us"

Hermione shook her head her eyes traveling from one face to the other. "You're so stupid. Those were lies you idiots. And that wouldn't explain why I never talked to you in school anymore would it?"

"Well, no but…"

"But nothing. Do you even know what its like to be me? I finally found people that I can be myself around. I finally found someone who gets me without asking questions. I have friends that never asked me for help with their homework. Sure, they don't know what goes on in the summers, but they know there's something. But they wait for me to tell them. They know when I'm lying. Hell, even Malfoy knows when I'm lying"

"Hermione, come on, that's not fair . How were we supposed to know anything?"

"By looking at me!" she rolled up her sleeves, displaying several of her scars. "By watching the changes that took place". She lifted her shirt slightly, displaying her stomach. "This is what happens when you have a family that hates you. This is what happens when your father hates the sight of you and when your mother cant stand the sound of your voice"

Harry and Ron stood, speechless.

"At a loss for words you two? Was the painted picture of my perfect life ruined? I cant believe you actually believed what I told you. You will never know what its like to be me, and I hope you never know. But you'll never have to worry about that. And you'll never have to worry about me lying again. You know now that we don't belong together. Malfoy knows me better then you two. All I have to say is good bye and good luck"

With that she turned and started to walk away, but she felt someone's hand on her arm. "Hermione wait" Ron pleaded.

Hermione froze, her body rigid. "I have nothing to say to you two"

"Hermione, how could we know when you never told us anything or even hinted. You never gave us a reason to not trust you so we did"

"Ron, let go of me"

"Not until you hear me out"

"Wrong thing to say Weasley" The three turned to see Dallis, Luke, Eva and Draco coming around the corner.

"Don't you know that you should never say no to Hermione when she's like this?" Dallis questioned.

"Why?" Ron asked, his hand still on Hermione's arm.

"Not important, I just suggest that you let go" Luke brushed off his question

"She could kill you in a matter of seconds, without magic" Eva threw in

"I'm not letting her go until she listens to me" Ron said again

"Your choice" Draco shook his head, not knowing why he was even here.

"Ron, let go. NOW"

"Her…" but he was cut off as her fist connected with his eye.

This is when Dallis, Luke and Draco stepped forward. They figured if they all stepped forward they had some chance of stopping her.

"Hermione, think. You could lose Head Girl if you kill them. Worse you could be expelled and sent to Azkaban. They're not worth that" Eva, who was standing off to the side, reasoned with her.

Hermione looked at the boys, all of them, then dropped her fists and fell out of her stance.

"Now listen, and listen good because I wont repeat myself" she said looking straight at Harry and Ron. Stay far, far away from me unless you want to find yourself in the hospital wing or six feet under. Understood?"

Harry and Ron nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Good" she then turned and walked gracefully to her dorm.

"Stay away from her or you'll have four to deal with instead of one, and we're the ones that taught her everything she knows" Luke glared at them.

"Five" Draco corrected, and when he saw Luke looking at him like he was crazy he elaborated, "They'll have five to deal with. I would rather help her then be on her bad side. I've seen what she can do"

"Ok, so five. And anything she told you is not to be repeated"

They then turned and followed Hermione's path to the Head common room, leaving Harry and Ron there to process everything they just heard.

__

Hey all, sorry this took so long to get out. I've had it sitting here, waiting to be edited for like 2 weeks. I don't know when my next chapter will come out because we're moving (again). If we're lucky it'll be on the weekend, but that depends on babysitting. If you want to know where I'm ever at as far as my stories go you can go to **http/ **Also, I have a new story out called **Daddy, I Love You. **It's a new twist to my writing and an idea I've been toying with for quite some time. I figured that if I never put it out, it would never get read, there for never get reviewed.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the chapter. I always love reviews. They're my inspiration and I need them.

Email updates are available

L&H, Pure Mudblood

(edited on August 23 2005)


	6. Chapter 6

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

__

"At a loss for words you two? Was the painted picture of my perfect life ruined? I cant believe you actually believed what I told you. You will never know what its like to be me, and I hope you never know. But you'll never have to worry about that. And you'll never have to worry about me lying again. You know now that we don't belong together. Malfoy knows me better then you two. All I have to say is good bye and good luck"

With that she turned and started to walk away, but she felt someone's hand on her arm. "Hermione wait" Ron pleaded.

Hermione froze, her body rigid. "I have nothing to say to you two"

"Hermione, how could we know when you never told us anything or even hinted. You never gave us a reason to not trust you so we did"

"Ron, let go of me"

"Not until you hear me out"

"Wrong thing to say Weasley" The three turned to see Dallis, Luke, Eva and Draco coming around the corner.

"Don't you know that you should never say no to Hermione when she's like this?" Dallis questioned.

"Why?" Ron asked, his hand still on Hermione's arm.

"Not important, I just suggest that you let go" Luke brushed off his question

"She could kill you in a matter of seconds, without magic" Eva threw in

"I'm not letting her go until she listens to me" Ron said again

"Your choice" Draco shook his head, not knowing why he was even here.

"Ron, let go. NOW"

"Her…" but he was cut off as her fist connected with his eye.

This is when Dallis, Luke and Draco stepped forward. They figured if they all stepped forward they had some chance of stopping her.

"Hermione, think. You could lose Head Girl if you kill them. Worse you could be expelled and sent to Azkaban. They're not worth that" Eva, who was standing off to the side, reasoned with her.

Hermione looked at the boys, all of them, then dropped her fists and fell out of her stance.

"Now listen, and listen good because I wont repeat myself" she said looking straight at Harry and Ron. Stay far, far away from me unless you want to find yourself in the hospital wing or six feet under. Understood?"

Harry and Ron nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Good" she then turned and walked gracefully to her dorm.

"Stay away from her or you'll have four to deal with instead of one, and we're the ones that taught her everything she knows" Luke glared at them.

"Five" Draco corrected, and when he saw Luke looking at him like he was crazy he elaborated, "They'll have five to deal with. I would rather help her then be on her bad side. I've seen what she can do"

"Ok, so five. And anything she told you is not to be repeated"

They then turned and followed Hermione's path to the Head common room, leaving Harry and Ron there to process everything they just heard.

&&&&&

Hermione was on her knees, frantically digging through her trunk. _It has to be here. It just has to_ she kept thinking.

Almost the entire contents of the trunk were sitting around her. Finally she saw a tiny glint of sliver. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

She had found it. She carefully ran her finger over the cool steel before bringing up to her wrist. There was a slight pressure right before the skin broke. It felt like life was returning to her and leaving her at the same time.

She lifted the knife up right before it made contact with the vein and moved it out an inch before pressing again. She repeated this, all pain leaving her, throwing her into a world of bliss.

That's when she heard it.

"Mia!" it was Luke

"_Fuck! _What do you want?" she hollered back.

"Come out. We want to talk to you" Eva called back.

"I just want to be alone right now. Please, I'll talk to you guys later"

She heard some movement then it went silent again. She turned back to her wrist and went to make one more cut. Just one more. That's it.

The knife sank deeper and deeper as she applied a slight pressure to it.

"Granger?" Draco poked his head into her room. "Come on, they wont leave until…What the fuck are you doing?"

"Nothing Malfoy. Go tell them I'm fine and that you and I'll meet them later ok? Just get rid of them for me" she glared at him, angry that he had come in.

Draco disappeared for a moment and she heard the slam of the door. Moments later, he reappeared in her door frame. "Explain. What the hell are you trying to do? You're going to get yourself caught you know"

"Didn't I already?" her eyes were hard as she stared up at him.

Draco snorted. "Like hell you did. Come on, lets clean that up" He reached to help her up, making sure that she could walk without passing out.

He led her to the bathroom and grabbed a towel, wetting it under the tap. "Sit" he commanded, pointing to one of the chairs.

Hermione, slightly confused, did as she was told. _What did he mean **Like hell you did? **Was he going to keep her secret or was he going to hold it over he head?_

Draco rolled up his sleeves before picking up the towel to tend to her wounds. He wrapped to towel around her arm and applied some pressure. "Hold" he said, getting up to grab another towel and some disinfectant from the cabinet under the sink.

Sitting back down he removed the towel and took some ointment on his finger. "I would say this is going to sting but from the looks of it you've done this several times before" He gazed at her arms for a minute longer. In fact, it looked like she had done this more then you could count.

Then, turning back to the newest cuts, he cleaned away any blood that was around them. Then, gently, he started to rub the ointment in.

Hermione hissed. That hurt more then she remembered. She looked down to see what Draco was doing to her. It was then that she noticed his arms. Nicely muscled, but there were scars. Many scars.

"You do it to" she stated.

Draco started, jerking her arm in the process, opening one of the old new cuts (**A/N: **As in its not from that day. But it cant be more then a day or two old). He followed her eyes to see that she was looking at his arms.

"So what if I do?" he snarled, looking her straight in the eye.

"That's what you meant by '_like hell you did' _isn't it? If you don't tell anyone about me then if you ever got caught I wouldn't tell. Right?" her gaze was strong and steady, not faltering as his stone cold eyes focussed on her.

Draco didn't know how to react to this. No one would've ever held his gaze like this or would've been as bold as he was. No one had ever stood up to him like this, never once breaking the contact. This was beyond new to him and it was weird. It made him feel uneasy to think that someone else on this earth had an inner and outer strength that matched and most likely surpassed his.

"Dammit Malfoy, answer me"

"No Granger. This is none of your fucking business"

She stayed silent, her face blank and eyes void. She just looked at him, wondering.

Draco dropped his gaze to her arm and finished tending to it.

"Why?" Hermione finally asked. "Why do you do this? What drove you to the knife?"

"What reasons are there Granger? The only thing I know of is the relief"

"What I mean is, what drove you to it for the first time? Why did you pick up that knife for the first time?"

"God Damn Granger. Why the hell do you care? Did you finally figure out the I, Draco Malfoy, am not perfect? Do you want me to admit it to every student in Hogwarts? To the entire world?" Draco growled.

He turned to leave but found himself stopped. Her hand was on his wrist, not letting him leave.

"You are never to speak a word of anything you saw today. Not to anyone. It doesn't leave this dorm and it stays between us. Understood?"

Draco looked at her, feeling anger rise in the pit of his stomach. He wrenched his arm from her grasp and turned for the door.

"Malfoy, I have just as much to hold over your head as you have to hold over mine. I can black mail you as easily as you could me. You speak a word of this to anyone and I wont keep quiet. Now I'll ask you again. Do you understand that this stays between us?"

"Whatever Granger. You're just as messed up as me. Maybe more so, I don't know. But I could ask you the same thing. What drove you to it? Was it your oh so precious best friends? Because if it was, then your problems way exceed mine"

"If you think that's what started this, then your more stupid then I thought Malfoy. Sure, they may have drove me to this once or twice, but they had nothing to do with why I started"

"Then why don't you tell me your story Granger? What drove the perfect, studious, bookworm Hermione Granger to this?"

"Fuck you Malfoy" she snarled. With that she got up and shoved past him and seconds later the sound of a door slamming rang through the dorm.

&&& around 2 hours later &&&

Draco heard someone pounding on his door.

"What the hell do you want?" he yelled.

"Get off your lazy ass Malfoy, and come join us" Luke called through the door

Draco groaned, and rolled off his bed. He trudged over to the door and yanked it open, a scowl crossed his cold features.

"Laurthian, get the fuck out of here" he sneered, not wanting to deal with people right now.

"Nope, sorry. Not until I know that your coming with me"

"What part of leave are you not understanding? I don't want you here and I don't want to go anywhere"

"Man, I'm not going anywhere. Now grab the drinks and lets go. Look, we even made Mia promise to be nice" Luke's eyes glinted with determination and Draco knew then that there was not way that he would get out of this.

He turned back into his room and grabbed some of his stash, shrinking is so that it would fit in his pocket. No need to risk anything by running into a teacher on the way.

He didn't know how Luke did this, but he did it each time. He was able to convince Draco of virtually anything. The worst thing was, he knew it. Luke knew that he could get Draco to do most anything. And the worst part was that it gave him a power the few had. Draco hated people having power over him, but yet that's exactly what Luke had.

They headed out of the Head commons and down the passages until they reached their destination.

"It should let you through again, but I'm going to hang back just to make sure." In reality, Luke was only going last because the was no way in hell that he was going to give Malfoy a chance to run off. He worked hard to get him here, and he was going to make sure that Malfoy actually followed through.

Draco walked through, a sneer on his face. He saw that the others were already there. Hermione was staked out on one couch, already munching on the Gummie Bears and licorice. She glared at him as he sat down on the couch across from her, making it very well known that she did _not _want him here.

"Why in the hell did you drag me here Laurthian?" he growled

"Because we decided that you needed to get out more. You almost never leave that dorm of yours unless its for class, to eat or if a teacher asks you to come see them. You need to start hanging around with people Malfoy. We decided that you could make a good start by hanging out with us. You like us or are at least comfortable around us. We all agreed that you belonged here in some weird way" Luke explained, but quickly corrected himself seeing the look that Hermione sent his way. "Ok, so _most _of us agreed that belong here"

"Gee, I wonder who could be the one" he rolled his stormy eyes, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Come on, you and Mia have been getting along better then you used to. Why cant you guys just grow up and get over your differences?" Eva put in, obviously impatient.

Draco and Hermione snorted. Like hell that was going to happen.

"Who ever said I wanted to hang out with you guys in the first place? I sure as hell didn't. I don't ever recall saying that I wanted to spend any time with a Mudblood"

The next thing he knew, pain ran through his abdomen and his eye felt like it was going to explode.

"What the hell was that for bitch?" he yelled

"I've warned you time and time again, never call me a Mudblood. Hell, I've hurt you before and yet you never seem to learn. Well, Malfoy, I can get a lot more violent than this and we both know that I can severely hurt you if I want to. So next time, think before you say anything." She turned to the others, "I need some space, you guys know where to find me"

Unless you knew her really well, there was almost no way to tell that she was even angry. Not unless you talked to her anyway. And I feel so sorry for anyone that chose to cross her path that evening.

"What the hell were you thinking Malfoy?" Dallis yelled at him once Hermione was gone.

Draco fixed him with a withering stare, but it didn't seem to affect in the least.

"We've been working on her for days now, trying to convince her that your okay. Trying to get her to let you join us. And this is how you repay us? By pissing her off?"

"Did it ever occur to you that the perfect angel Granger, isn't what she appears to be? I know a lot more about her then you think and I know enough to shatter that image completely. Your perfect friend isn't so perfect. And have you ever noticed, that even though it doesn't look like it, she controls everything that her friends do? It's a quiet control, but its there"

"What do you mean?" Luke's eyes now only visible through small slits.

"Open up your fucking eyes for once and look at her. She has control over everything. But not only that, she has everyone thinking that she's so perfect. She's as far from it as you can be, and I've seen first hand. Push me, and I'll shatter the image that you have of her in less then a minute" He then got up and left, just wanting to get out. The get away from these people.

Little did he know, this day was the first of many like it. There were days to come the would be crazier and more painful then this one had been. His whole world was about to be turned around and jumbled into such a mess that no one ever thought he would be able to fix it. Days would follow this where he needed an escape, but none would be provided. But at the end of the day, if he fought for what he wanted, would it have been worth it anyway?

&&&&

__

Hey guys! Who's ready to kill me? But if your following my other story, you know that's its only been like half the time that its taken me to update that! Ok, so I've been promised for like the last month to get a new chapter out, but I've been basically brain dead when it comes to writing. I've had writers block for so long!

But here ya go! Here's your chapter. Finally its getting to more of the plot, but I still don't know where I want to take this. I'll come up with something eventually J

Anywayz, you can get updates on how my writing's coming at ****(I know it should be puremudblood but I'm getting sick of that name) There's a link to it on my profile (two links actually). And, though I have yet to start posting this story there, my Givin Up Trilogy (most of it anyway) is also available at **http/ca. **

They'll be kept up to date after this weekend and if theres ever a problem with that's where you can find an update. Just check out LiveJournal to see if I have anything there.

As always, EMIAL updates are available. Just tell me you want one and either give my your email or tell me and make sure it's a signed review so _I can have access to your email address_

Until next time,

L&H Pure Mudblood

(Edited on August 23 2005)


	7. Chapter 7

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books. The poems used in this chapter is courtesy of WriterOfDragons from Evan2Alley (link in Profile). I obtained full permission to use the poem myself.********

WARNING: There is dealings with Suicide in this chapter

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

"I've warned you time and time again, never call me a Mudblood. Hell, I've hurt you before and yet you never seem to learn. Well, Malfoy, I can get a lot more violent than this and we both know that I can severely hurt you if I want to. So next time, think before you say anything." She turned to the others, "I need some space, you guys know where to find me"

Unless you knew her really well, there was almost no way to tell that she was even angry. Not unless you talked to her anyway. And I feel so sorry for anyone that chose to cross her path that evening.

"What the hell were you thinking Malfoy?" Dallis yelled at him once Hermione was gone.

Draco fixed him with a withering stare, but it didn't seem to affect in the least.

"We've been working on her for days now, trying to convince her that your okay. Trying to get her to let you join us. And this is how you repay us? By pissing her off?"

"Did it ever occur to you that the perfect angel Granger, isn't what she appears to be? I know a lot more about her then you think and I know enough to shatter that image completely. Your perfect friend isn't so perfect. And have you ever noticed, that even though it doesn't look like it, she controls everything that her friends do? It's a quiet control, but its there"

"What do you mean?" Luke's eyes now only visible through small slits.

"Open up your fucking eyes for once and look at her. She has control over everything. But not only that, she has everyone thinking that she's so perfect. She's as far from it as you can be, and I've seen first hand. Push me, and I'll shatter the image that you have of her in less then a minute" He then got up and left, just wanting to get out. The get away from these people.

Little did he know, this day was the first of many like it. There were days to come the would be crazier and more painful then this one had been. His whole world was about to be turned around and jumbled into such a mess that no one ever thought he would be able to fix it. Days would follow this where he needed an escape, but none would be provided. But at the end of the day, if he fought for what he wanted, would it have been worth it anyway?

&&&&

Luke stared at the door that Draco had just walked through. He couldn't believe this. Someone had actually tried to tell them what they had been denying for so long. That there was something more to their Hermione. Something dark and hidden that should never be uncovered.

Only once had they tried to dig into Hermione's life outside of Hogwarts. They tried to dig deep into her mind to find out the way she thought, just for once trying to understand what went on in her head day in and day out. She had been so angry at them. If she wanted to share, she would, and they should've known that. Anyone with even the smallest amount of brains and two eyes could've seen that.

Never again did they try to pry. It was around that time that they had started to teach her how to fight properly, without hurting herself. It was also around this time that she had started to put on the emotionless mask around them. Before, it was like she had trusted them completely, never saw the point in hiding from them. Well, it all changed after that. She hid her emotions from them often, but they had learned to accept that as Hermione.

It was true that she had some control over their lives, but they had known she would when they had first started to talk with her and become friends. It was just part of who she was. She liked to have some control, so they let her. Luke had just never noticed how deep that control actually ran.

"He's right you know" Eva said from behind him. "About Mia not being perfect and especially about the control she has. She makes all the decisions, and we all back down from her"

"True, but you yourself have seen what happens when we don't back down when she's angry. She flips out and gets violent" Dallas countered.

"Guys, your both right. At this point I'm almost sorry I ever taught her to fight at all, but she needed a way to get rid of all that energy and that was the only way besides exercising that we could come up with at the time. Its not like books or something like that would've worked" Luke shook his head and started to head out into the hallway

"Where are you going?" Eva already knew the answer, but she had to hear him say it himself.

"To talk to her, you know that" Luke looked at his sister ans watched as her eyes widened slightly, then clouded over with a mix of worry and a little anger. She opened her mouth to say something but Dallas beat her too it.

"Are you stupid? Do you have a death wish or something? You cant be seriously considering going and talking to her about this. Not only will she kill us for going along with Malfoy, she will MURDER Malfoy"

"I'm going to talk to my best friend. that's it that's final. If you have a problem with it then you can stay here. But I wont. I love her too much and I'm going to try to get through to her" Luke was determined to go through with this, and they could see that there would be no stopping him.

Luke headed out into the hallway and moments later heard them following. When they reached the gym they found that Hermione was the only one in there. Head phones on and the music so loud they could make it out word for word. Her eyes were closed, but you could see the anger still there. Hermione had always been one to hurt, then forgive but she never forgot. She remembered everything anyone had ever done to her and she wasn't going to let them just get away with it. No that's not the way she thought.

Hermione's eyes opened when she sensed another presence in the room. She didn't need anyone around right now and she really didn't want them there.

"Yes?" she asked, pulling her head phones off and stopped her music.

"Mia, we need to talk to you" Luke looked her in the eye. This worried Hermione slightly. He had a worried but very determined look in his eye right then.

She got off the treadmill and sat on the floor, her back against the wall. "Fine, what is it?"

"Mia, we were told some things that really opened our eyes today. And we need to talk to you about them" Eva was chewing her lip.

"Pass me a water" she gestured to Dallas, who did as asked and tossed her a bottle. It didn't even look like what Eva had said had registered. She chugged the water and got him to pass one more before actually acknowledging what had been said. "Continue".

Her facial expression didn't change. Still angry, still cold, still distant, yet it was completely void of any actual emotion. The only way you could even tell she was angry was because her eyes were shifting slightly every so often, looking each of them in the face

"Mia, why wont you tell us anything about your life? We love you and we really want to know. There's something your hiding from us, and we want to know what it is" Dallas was concerned for his friend. He had known her for less time then the other two, but even he had seen a huge change in her over the past few months. She was slowly distancing herself from them. It was as if she knew something that they didn't but couldn't tell them.

"I told you before, that's none of your business" she paused between each word, emphasizing them, making sure that the others got the point.

"We know, but we wont accept that answer anymore Mia. We want the truth" Eva shot at her friend, starting to lose some patience. "You act like there's nothing wrong in your world, like everything's always just fine. But its not! How the hell are we supposed to be there for you if you wont even tell what the fuck's wrong! Mia, we let you do what you want and we just follow and we're perfectly fine with that. If you want control, go ahead, have it, but refuse to open up at all! You. . ." Hermione cut her off before Eva could continue any farther.

"I don't want to tell you because I don't want you to know! You guys already know enough as it is. You found out things that I **_never _**wanted you to know. You guys cant know what else there is! And I didn't ask to be made the leader of this little group, it just happened. If you have such a problem with it, then I'm sorry! I promise I'll never do it again! But you guys could never handle what else I have hidden" Hermione was angry, and she could've choked each one of them, but she wouldn't, it wasn't fair to them.

Hermione got up from her spot, grabbed her things and started for the door. She didn't want to be around them right now. Besides, she had an appointment to kill someone and she was already 5 minutes late.

"Hermione, wait" Luke ran up to her. "I don't care if you tell us or not. Just as long as you know you can come and talk to us whenever"

Hermione looked up at him. "Luke, I know. But if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be. Oh, and next time Malfoy tells you something, make sure that you think before you come and talk to me. You may be the three people I love more then anything, but I wont hesitate to hurt you if I;m angry enough. You know that"

She turned and walked out the door. She ran all the way to the Head Commons and slammed to portrait door upon her entrance/

"MALFOY!" she screamed, heading for his room

"Not now Granger, I'm busy" he said without looking up from the paper he was writing on.

"How dare you, you stupid bastard! You had _no _right to tell them _anything."_

"Oh, you mean they actually had the guts to come and talk to you? I'm impressed, never thought that they would actually do that. Guess I underestimated them didn't I?" Finally he looked up at her from his potions essay

Hermione smirked slightly at the sight of his face. There was already a bruise forming around his eye. She recovered quickly though, remembering why she was there in the first place. "_Never, ever do that again Malfoy!"_

"Why ever not? Its all true isn't it?"

"I don't care if its true or not. I could make your life a living hell just as easily as you could mine. Exactly as I told you earlier"

Draco just shrugged and looked back at his work. He had to finish this essay and he just didn't need her presence in his room. "Leave now Granger"

Hermione glared, but she left. After that she became even more quiet around her friends. She refused to take any of the bait that Draco threw at her. In fact, unless it was at the request of a teacher, she never spoke to him. She started to exercise more. Almost everyday for 4-6 hours. With that added to her work and head duties, she had little more the 4 hours of sleep a night, if she even got that much.

Her friends had been glad that they had talked to her, but also kind of regretted it. She had really withdrawn from them after that. They hated that she had resorted to treating them the way she had at first. Like she didn't trust them at all. They knew she had little trust in them as it was, but now, it seemed like there was nothing.

2 months passed liked this. Hermione said little, almost never participated in class, nothing. The teachers couldn't really say anything as her marks weren't changing. In fact, they had climbed quite a bit after taking a dip early in the year.

Then one day, Hermione was totally chatty again. She had full conversations with each of them, even skipped her work out session so that they could just hang out. They talked like nothing had ever changed. Hermione finally gave them each a hug and walked to her rooms.

She glanced around and saw that Malfoy was no where to be seen. She breathed a small sigh of relief. Pulling a note book out of her bag, she started to write. By the time she had finished, it was nearly midnight and she had been writing for the past hour. Glancing over it one last time she walked to her room and placed the note book on her bed.

Hermione reaching into the very bottom of her trunk and pulled a bag out from between several layers of clothing that she had left in there. Opening the bag she pulled out two small bottles and took them over to her bed.

She re-read her note, wanting to make sure it was perfect,. Making sure that she hadn't left a single thing out.

Why did I do this? Why did I decide that this was it? This was the end? Because in my mind it is. I'm not going any farther and I don't want to. Its not worth it. There's too much bull shit to deal with. You people think you have it hard? Parents went through a messy divorce? You lost a couple of friends? You feel like you don't have a place on this earth? Yeah, major problems there rolls eyes

You stupid friggin idiots! Try spending every day in a life that isn't yours. Being someone your not. Tearing yourself apart. Not a single person knows the real you. Not a single person knows theres a problem with you. Not your mother, not your father, not a single person close to you. Even though your best friend knows there's something wrong, they never do know what. God, can you imagine your parents actually being part of this whole reason why you're here in the first place/ I would've taken a messy divorce where I was stuck in the middle any day over what I have to put up with. But no use complaining about what I cant change now. No one but me will ever know all the reasons behind my doing this. And that's the way I want it.

Eva à If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have made it this far. I would've been gone long before now. Thank you for being you. For doing everything you ever did for me. For putting up with my bitchy-ness all those times. For everything. For simply just benig there.

Luke à I owe you my world. I love you so much and I thank whoever put you in my path. Thanks for showing me all those stress relievers, trust me, they really work!

Dallasà I may not know you overly well, but it's the same both ways. You always sat and listened to me when I didn't want to talk to anyone else. If I just needed someone, but there was no one else, you were just there and I thank you for that.

Malfoy à ( I know, you cant believe your mentioned right?) Ok, I have one thing to say to you. Thanks for showing my how to defend myself with my words. I've always been very defensive and assertive, but you gave me a chance to really use that to my advantage.

To anyone who was ever there for me à Thank you.

Eva, Luke and Dallas, I love you but theres no longer a place here for me.

Goodbye

Forever Love, Mia

****

Ending

Looking out the window,  
Staring at my friends,  
Wondering,  
Should I do it?  
Should I make this life end?  
They heyare laughing ,smiling,  
So carefree,  
But would they be the same without me?  
Would they care if i died?  
Would they wonder why?  
Would they cry?  
Would they miss me,  
As much as i would miss them?  
One girl looks up,  
And smiles at me,  
I couldn't do it,  
I couldn't set myself free,  
They would blame themselves,  
I would be chianed forever,  
Wathching them tourture themselves,  
Over my choice,  
I couldn't bare it,  
There actions were,  
Stronger than my voice

Hermione put the note book aside and popped open the bottle, emptying its contents, then doing the same to the other. Then she just sat there, waiting for the pills and alcohol to tear her insides apart. She knew what to mix to make it lethal, and she wanted to make sure that it was final.

She sat studying to bottles for several minutes. How could something so small be so deadly? She just sat there, studying it. Then she got up and ran for the bathroom.

She shoved a finger down her throat and started to throw-up. She just wasn't ready.

Somewhere between the time she had gone into her room and she had ran for the bathroom, Draco had walked in from his patrol. He had been sitting on his bed reading when he heard Hermione's door bang open and moments later heard the sound of her throwing up.

He didn't know why, but he was worried. Getting up, he went to her room, and saw the note lying next to the two bottles. That's when it hit him just how much Hermione hated being on this earth.

He raced for the bathroom to find Hermione still getting sick.

Hermione felt someone holding her hair back as she got sick. At that moment, she truly didn't care who it was. All she could think about was getting all this poison out of her system. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't hurt her friends like this. Couldn't face the thought of giving up like this.

Finally she finished. She grabbed a towel and wiped it across her mouth, trying to remove all traces of the poison. She looked up to find Draco standing over her. That was when she completely lost it. She started bawling right there on the spot.

Draco looked down at her as she started to cry. He pulled her up and helped her out to the common room. Sitting on a couch, he pulled her down next to him and just wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down. He rocked back and forth and he smoothed out her hair. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he knew he had too. She needed comfort right now, and if he was the only one there, he would be the one to give it too her.

Finally, he heard her crying stop and not too long after her breathing even out as she fell asleep. Making sure she was in a deep sleep she took her up to her room, transfigured her cloths into pyjamas and cast a spell over her to make sure that every little bit of the poison was gone.

Last (after removing the note and bottles), he pulled the blankets up over her and added an extra one. Heading out, he took one last look at her.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" he whispered, shaking his head. He knew why he did it. And he prayed that her situation what nothing like it.

&&&&&

YAY! I updated. And I didn't even have this one beta-ed. I just wrote it, checked it over (very quickly so I apologize for mistakes) and posted it! For anyone that actually thought I would kill Mia right here, I feel very bad for you. I couldn't kill the same character twice you know! And besides, I don't think I could go through killing a character right now anyway. I just did that, I'm not prepared to do it again!

Sorry that it A) took so long and B) is shorter then normal. This just seemed like such a perfect ending to the chapter, I couldn't ruin it with anymore being added to it.

Anyway, I hope that this was a chapter worth waiting for!

Email Updates Available Upon Request!

****

Send me lots of love you guys!

L&H Pure Mudblood


	8. Chapter 8

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

__

She sat studying to bottles for several minutes. How could something so small be so deadly? She just sat there, studying it. Then she got up and ran for the bathroom.

She shoved a finger down her throat and started to throw-up. She just wasn't ready.

Somewhere between the time she had gone into her room and she had ran for the bathroom, Draco had walked in from his patrol. He had been sitting on his bed reading when he heard Hermione's door bang open and moments later heard the sound of her throwing up.

He didn't know why, but he was worried. Getting up, he went to her room, and saw the note lying next to the two bottles. That's when it hit him just how much Hermione hated being on this earth.

He raced for the bathroom to find Hermione still getting sick.

Hermione felt someone holding her hair back as she got sick. At that moment, she truly didn't care who it was. All she could think about was getting all this poison out of her system. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't hurt her friends like this. Couldn't face the thought of giving up like this.

Finally she finished. She grabbed a towel and wiped it across her mouth, trying to remove all traces of the poison. She looked up to find Draco standing over her. That was when she completely lost it. She started bawling right there on the spot.

Draco looked down at her as she started to cry. He pulled her up and helped her out to the common room. Sitting on a couch, he pulled her down next to him and just wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down. He rocked back and forth and he smoothed out her hair. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he knew he had too. She needed comfort right now, and if he was the only one there, he would be the one to give it too her.

Finally, he heard her crying stop and not too long after her breathing even out as she fell asleep. Making sure she was in a deep sleep she took her up to her room, transfigured her cloths into pyjamas and cast a spell over her to make sure that every little bit of the poison was gone.

Last (after removing the note and bottles), he pulled the blankets up over her and added an extra one. Heading out, he took one last look at her.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" he whispered, shaking his head. He knew why he did it. And he prayed that her situation what nothing like it.

&&&&&

"Granger?" Draco shook Hermione the next morning, trying to wake her for classes. "Granger, come on, we'll be late"

Hermione groaned as she felt herself being pulled from the pleasant world of unconsciousness. She looked up to see Draco staring down at her.

She let out a blood curdling scream when it registered who was standing over her.

"Ouch" Draco held his ears. "Jeez Granger, what are you trying to do to me?"

"What the hell are you trying to do to me Malfoy? God, scaring me like that!" Hermione shot back, kicking him in the shins as she sat up.

"Jesus Granger, all I was doing was waking you for classes. You know, seeing as they start in 20 minutes"

"Mental health day" Hermione grumbled as she tried to focus her vision again. She felt like someone was repeatedly hitting her on the head with a hammer and stabbing her in the gut with a dagger.

"Feeling, a little, shall we say, under the weather?" Draco smirked as he watched her sway when she stood up.

"That would be the understatement of the century"

"Come on Granger, time for classes. Cant miss them" Draco tried to get her motivated to get up.

"I told you, I'm not going. I can miss them if I want. Dumbledore's not going to get mad at me for wanting to have a mental health day you know" she glared at him.

"Fine, be that way. But I not leaving you here on your own. Nope not happening. So either I can go get one of the Laurthians or Cade to come and sit with you, or you can stick out the day with me. Your choice"

"Yeah, because I want them to know what happened last night. God, I may be suicidal but I'd prefer to do that dirty work myself instead of one of them doing it for me. Its just not as fulfilling, you know" she spit out, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Ok, so I take it your going with choice number two then? Good answer, because that just means I have a reason to ditch classes" a small smile tugged at the sides of his lips as he watched her walk around the room, having to stop and steady herself every so often.

"Who said I wanted to spend the whole day with you in he first place? I know I sure as hell didn't" Hermione snarled. She didn't want to have him around today. Not after what had happened last night.

"Then I tell the others and they come and sit with you today. I already told you your options and seeing as you don't want them to know, that leaves staying here with me. That is, unless you plan to go to classes today. But I doubt it" He knew that she would fight this. Fight the fact that he wouldn't let her be on her own, but he wouldn't leave. He would never be able to live it down if he came in tonight to find her dead.

"Granger, you might as well just give up now. We both know that there's not a chance in hell that I'm leaving here today. In fact, until I know you wont try again, you are never to be alone for more then five minutes. I don't care if I have to start sleeping in the same room with you. You aren't going to kill yourself. Its that simple. But until I know that you will never try again, I cant trust that you can look after yourself"

Hermione met his eyes, challenging him. "Malfoy, we both know that I could get past you faster that you could ever pull out your wand. So why bother trying to do something that you'll never be able to. I would never let you sleep in the same room with me, never let you follow me around and most of all never again would I let you so much as eat with me. Besides, why do you care anyway?"

"Granger, the threats don't work. Physically, yes you could easily get by me. But I refuse to leave you alone. I will get you to the point of a complete mental breakdown if I have to. Anything to know that you'll be fine. I know what its like to be one of the ones that's left behind. You may go through a few moments of pain right before you give up all together, but you leave so many behind that have to learn to deal with the pain for what's left of their natural lives. Can you even imagine what it would be like for the others? Or even for the rest of the ex-Dream Team or the teachers. By killing yourself, you're taking away pieces of them that should always stay. Your slowly causing them to want to play with the same idea but wont, because they know what happens. Granger, _never _again will I see someone go through that. Its not fair to them and its not fair to anyone else. So, yes, I care. I care for all those that you're planning to leave behind"

A deafening silence seemed to cloak the room as he finished. With each word he spoke, her face had gotten a little paler. Her eyes were emotionless now. By seeing this, he knew that he had somehow managed to get something through to her. He didn't know what it was, and at this moment, didn't particularly care. All he cared about was the fact that she had actually listened.

He didn't want to see Luke, Dallas or Eva ever go through what he had. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

Hermione just stared at him. She had no idea. Well, no duh. Most didn't have any idea that he had never gone through something like that. How was she supposed to she have known?

"Malfoy, I. . . I have no idea what to say" she stuttered, at a loss of words for the first time in ages.

"I don't expect you to say anything, just promise me you wont try again. But even if you do that, I cant trust your word. You are not to be left alone until I know that you will no longer try to off yourself. That means saying goodbye to the drugs, goodbye to the privacy, and most of all, goodbye to the blade. No more cutting yourself"

Hermione bit her lip. She knew that he was right, but the blade? Why the blade? It was the one thing that she cared about so much. It was her one escape. How could he ask her to do something like that?

"Don't want to do you" he said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. He knew what she was going through right now. He remembered when he had had a friend intervene like this. Though, in that case, it had been an actual friend. In this case, it was he deepest, darkest enemy of the past years. Also, he was her dark secret. He knew that. He knew what went through her head every time she looked at him, it was the same thing that went through his head.

No, they hadn't done anything. Nothing that wasn't allowed anyway. They had never had any romantic contact, nothing of that sort. That wasn't it at all. It was something that had happened late into last year, when Hermione had first started to really change at all. When she really started pulling away from the real world as people knew it. She had finally seen what goes on in the other half of the prim and proper world that she had been brought up in.

Finally, Hermione broke the steady stare. She couldn't look him in eye, not right not. After what seemed like hours, she looked up again and nodded.

"Ok, I'll do it. But only on 3 conditions. 1: I get some privacy, bathroom, changing etc., 2: Luke, Eva, Dallas and the rest of the world can never find out about any of this, but they especially cant know. They worry too much as it. And 3: You have to give up your blade too"

Now, it was Draco's turn to stare. How could she do that but yet, how could he not have expected that? Quickly recovering he looked into her eyes, searching them. Searching for any sign that this was all a lie, that she wasn't telling the truth. No way would she actually have agreed to that. To giving up absolutely everything because he told her that she had to.

"Malfoy, I'm not doing this because you told me too. I'm doing this because I cant stand the thought of hurting anyone. Of never seeing my friends again. Of never seeing the light of day again. And, believe it or not, I cant stand the thought of never having another fight with you" Hermione had felt his searching gaze, and just knew what he was looking for. Well, he wasn't going to find it. Not now, not ever.

"Here are the conditions: 1: You can have bathroom privacy, unless your taking a shower, then I have to be somewhere in the room because you cant be trusted with a razor, nothing of the kind. 2: no one will ever know, unless you do try to kill yourself again. Then I will make sure that they _all_ know. And 3: I'll give up my blade" He held out his hand to her, "Deal?"

Hermione reached out and took his hand in his for a brief second. "Deal"

"Blade" Draco said simply. "We'll get rid of them at the same time ok?"

Hermione didn't answer, just turned to her trunk and dug until she found the elegant, silver dagger. She studied it one last time, even though she already knew everything. Every indent, every silver line that twisted and curved all over the black handle. The was a hint of gold here and there, and engraved were the words "My Day to Die is Not the Day I Will Say Good Bye". Never had she understood exactly what that meant, not until now anyway. The day she died was the day that she truly gave up. The day she gave up everything. The day that was chiselled into the deepest corners of her mind.

She held it out to him and he took the handle, then turned out and headed towards his room. He heard her get up and follow him, then her footsteps stopped when she reached the entrance of his room, letting him go and get his dagger.

Once he had it out, Draco immediately handed it to her. She stood studying it for a second, taking in the exquisite design. The blade itself was a very simple silver. But the handle was so beautifully designed. A black snake, outlined in green wound its way around the whole thing, silver words inset into the snakes body. "My Way May be the Only Way, But Whoever Said that It's the Right Way?". The rest of the handle that didn't have the snake was just the simple silver, but the silver itself was so beautiful.

"Granger, we have to decide together what to do with them. We have to make sure that we both know where they are, but no one else can find them. But, most of all, we must be linked somehow. If one picks up their blade and attempts to do harm with it, the other must immediately know. There has to be a tie between us. You know what I mean Granger"

Hermione nodded. "Malfoy, do we really have to do all this? Why cant we just rely on trust?"

Draco snorted. "Granger, do you trust me to never pick up that blade again? Would you honestly take my word that I would never try again?"

"No" she answered quickly. And it was the truth. She wouldn't trust that just because he had put it away, he would never pick it up again.

"That's what I thought. And, as much as I hate to admit it, we think along the same lines in most things. We both have trust issues. Only mine run deeper then yours ever could. You know that this is the only way right now? It makes up put total and complete trust in one another. For those few seconds, your life will be in my hands and mine will be in yours"

"Don't you think I know this Malfoy?"

"No Granger, I know you know it. Your not stupid. Not like most in this school. You know things. Things that a person should never know or understand. You have more knowledge of this world at age 18 then most have at 80"

"Fine, we can do it tonight ok?" Hermione glared at the floor. She didn't want to do what he was saying, but she knew that there wasn't much choice in the matter.

She turned to leave but felt herself stopped. "Let go of me Malfoy" she growled.

"Oh no, I don't think so. I don't trust you enough to let you go. Your not spending this entire day on your own"

"I'm going to grab my notebook, then I'm gong to go to my sanctuary alright? I need to think"

"You can think all you want, but your not allowed to be on your own. There's not even room for argument on this. Its pretty damn simple. You and I will spend this entire day together. Not because I want to. God no. I'm doing this solely for you and for _our _friends"

Hermione scowled at him, but nodded. She didn't have the energy to fight this morning and she just wasn't in the mood. Besides, it would be a lot easier to pull off skipping a day of school if both she and Malfoy were out. They could just say they were doing Head things. Like planning the upcoming dance.

"Shit" her eyes grew wide as this last thought flowed through her mind. "Malfoy, the dance. Two weeks from now. Nothings done on it"

"Guess I know what we're doing today then" he rolled his eyes.

"We can do it this afternoon. Right now, I'm getting my notebook, some homework and heading out. Its too early to be working right now"

And she did just that. She grabbed everything and headed out to the little meeting room. The others were all in school, so none would be here until at least lunch and by that time she would be back in the Head Commons working on plans for the dance.

Draco followed her, grabbing his bag so that he would have something to do that morning. Might as well get something accomplished. It didn't look like she would be talking to him anytime soon.

And so the morning slowly dragged on. Silence sat between them as they both worked. Hermione was writing so fast, that he was sure that there was no chance that even she would be able to read it later. Draco got most of his homework completely finished, leaving only a Herbology essay that he needed to get something from the library for and wasn't even due for the next several weeks.

"Where do you think your going?" he asked as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Bathroom. It's just down the hall. I'll only be gone for 2 minutes. Honestly, you can time me if you don't believe me"

"I think I just might" he challenged. He wanted to make sure she wasn't lying. If she was lying, she would back down and stay. If she was telling the truth, she would still leave.

"You do that Malfoy. Do whatever you fucking well please. I cant control that" she shrugged before walking out and down the corridor to the washroom.

Draco wasn't actually going to time her. She was obviously telling the truth. She wouldn't have left if she wasn't.

He glanced back at the potions text that sat in his lap. He had been trying to study it, but his mind had kept drifting and he had read the same line about 6 times now, yet he couldn't remember a single word that had been in it.

He pushed that aside and looked over to where Hermione had been sitting. Her notebook still sat there, open. Unable to control his curiosity for the first time in years, he got up and walked over to it.

**__**

Forever, Never and Forgotten

Never was it asked for

And yet , always was it there

But it seemed that not for this world

Was there a single care

Asked to stay away

Forever to it pry

Known something

But not a try

Forgotten are the days of sane

Remembered are what lies behind

Hidden from the world

Not a single kind

Were the days of peace

Are the times of war

Not what is thought

All what was for

Always was it there

And never was it present

Forgotten are the hours

Not possible to resent

Stay there forever

Never move ahead

Forget what's behind

All that's said

Left behind

Gone from this place

Care not for now

Realities to face

Mistakes that were made

But they don't exist

Imagination takes over

Not to resist

Final times

Rest forever

Take back Always

Remember never

Draco stared at the paper. He didn't know what to say, to think. He just didn't know. It just hit home so hard with him. Most wouldn't understand, but he sure did. He understood every line of it. Not only did it deal with the present, but the past, the future and everything in between. Parts he connected to that night last year. That night just seemed to be ages upon ages ago, but it wasn't.

Draco read it one last time before just setting it aside and thinking. Trying to think anyway. As it said, _Final times. . . . . ._

&&&&&&

That one didn't take to long now did it?? Was it worth the like week and a half (or was it two weeks?) wait?? I, once again, didn't have this one beta-ed. (I just did a VERY quick read over!) **I apologize for ALL mistakes!! **I'll get most beta-ed but seeing as I wont be to available this weekend, I thought I would just finish and post. Besides, who knows when I'll actually get it out once it is beta-ed right?

The poem above IS mine!!! Completely written, everything!

Well, I hope it was enjoyable. Now I'm going to go and finish my update for Daddy, I Love You so that all those readers do hate me quite so much! I've only been promising for like 2 months!!

As Always I LOVE MY REVIEWS!!!! Keep 'em coming!

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Email Updates Available Upon Request!! (just please leave me your email address!)

L&H Pure Mudblood


	9. Chapter 9

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Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

"Where do you think your going?" he asked as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Bathroom. It's just down the hall. I'll only be gone for 2 minutes. Honestly, you can time me if you don't believe me"

"I think I just might" he challenged. He wanted to make sure she wasn't lying. If she was lying, she would back down and stay. If she was telling the truth, she would still leave.

"You do that Malfoy. Do whatever you fucking well please. I cant control that" she shrugged before walking out and down the corridor to the washroom.

Draco wasn't actually going to time her. She was obviously telling the truth. She wouldn't have left if she wasn't.

He glanced back at the potions text that sat in his lap. He had been trying to study it, but his mind had kept drifting and he had read the same line about 6 times now, yet he couldn't remember a single word that had been in it.

He pushed that aside and looked over to where Hermione had been sitting. Her notebook still sat there, open. Unable to control his curiosity for the first time in years, he got up and walked over to it.

****

Forever, Never and Forgotten

Never was it asked for

And yet , always was it there

But it seemed that not for this world

Was there a single care

Asked to stay away

Forever to it pry

Known something

But not a try

Forgotten are the days of sane

Remembered are what lies behind

Hidden from the world

Not a single kind

Were the days of peace

Are the times of war

Not what is thought

All what was for

Always was it there

And never was it present

Forgotten are the hours

Not possible to resent

Stay there forever

Never move ahead

Forget what's behind

All that's said

Left behind

Gone from this place

Care not for now

Realities to face

Mistakes that were made

But they don't exist

Imagination takes over

Not to resist

Final times

Rest forever

Take back Always

Remember never

Draco stared at the paper. He didn't know what to say, to think. He just didn't know. It just hit home so hard with him. Most wouldn't understand, but he sure did. He understood every line of it. Not only did it deal with the present, but the past, the future and everything in between. Parts he connected to that night last year. That night just seemed to be ages upon ages ago, but it wasn't.

Draco read it one last time before just setting it aside and thinking. Trying to think anyway. As it said, Final times. . . . . .

&&&&&&

What the hell is wrong with me? Hermione looked towards the ceiling, as if expecting an answer.

She was trying to figure out why she was trusting Malfoy. Why would she risk her life for this? Why should she ever have a note-worthy reason to actually believe this guy?

__

Because you want to, you want to trust him, therefore, you do. Hermione glared at the empty hall. She didn't want to hear this, especially not from herself. It was when she looked down the hall, that she noticed a figure approaching her.

"Malfoy, I cant honestly believe you timed that" Hermione said to the figure.

"Malfoy? I don't see Malfoy anywhere around here, Granger" Hermione's eyes widened in surprise.

"Betrador what the hell are you doing here? "(**A/N **_I'll give an explanation of the name later [Pronounced: Be-Tra-Door] -- OH and that's his last name! His first is Matthew {Though I'll use Matt!})_

"That it Granger? No, hey, hi, how are you?"

"You should be in class Matt" Hermione said simply

"You'd think that, after everything we've been through, you would be a little nicer to me" Matt looked Hermione up and down, taking in her hidden beauty

"Why would I be nicer to you? After what you did when that all was over. When I lost. . ." Hermione trailed off

"You still cant say it can you? Cant come to terms with what happened? Granger, I lost the same thing that day, but I'm living my life day-to-day just the same"

"How would you know what it was like? You have no idea what I went through these past years, and to add that one top of everything was just too much. And then you leaving so soon after. How the hell am I supposed to treat a cold hearted bastard like you with respect?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Matt yelled at her

"Oh, and it was all mine! God, you had no right to do what you did and then expect me to. . . " she was cut off by a voice calling her name.

"Granger? I thought you said two minutes. . ." Draco stopped at the sight of Matt, a fellow Slytherin and a once friend.

"Betrador, what are you doing here?" he spit out at him

"What did I ever do to you Malfoy? Every single time I see you, you act as if I went and killed your baby sister or something"

"It's not what you did to me, its what you do to everyone else in this world. I know how you were raised, and it sure as hell wasn't to be an asshole"

"What do you mean? You know of nothing I've done in my life"

"I don't eh? You'd be surprised at the things I know about you"

Hermione looked between the two boys, a small fear that they might start a duel or fight caught in her chest. She knew that no matter what they did, she could stop them, but she'd seen Matt mad, and it was not a pretty sight.

The thing is: She never had exactly told Matt that Malfoy knew the whole story, knew everything that had happened last year.

"Malfoy, how could you know a damn thing about me?"

Draco glanced toward Hermione, who just shrugged. He could tell that she didn't want him to, but yet, she also gave him the idea that she couldn't careless whether or not she said anything.

"Betrador, I know what happened last year. Every last detail. How you got Granger drunk one night, how that night you took her virginity, how you guys started gong steady after that"

Matt just narrowed his eyes, glaring at Draco then at Hermione. He couldn't tell if Hermione was actually listening to any of this because her face was blank and her posture relaxed.

"I also know that you got her pregnant last year. That you were with her when she lost it only days after finding out and that you cheated on her that very night. That you went and slept with some Slytherin slut and then got mad at her when she walked in to talk to you and found you in bed with the other. And you say that I have no reason to call you an asshole right? I think that this gives me plenty of reason" Draco caught Matt's eyes and refused to let him look away. He wanted to see this coward own up to everything that he had done.

Matt held the gaze. He wasn't going to break down and be the first to give up. No, that wasn't who he was. "What Granger, didn't know who to tell so you went to Malfoy? Couldn't handle anything on your own? I thought you were a cold-hearted bitch that could take anything. One of many reasons I hate you Granger is just that, you're a bitch that doesn't know what she's good for"

"Really, that's not what you told me all those times. The fact the I was cold-hearted and seemed to feel nothing seemed to be such a turn-on for you. As for Malfoy knowing, who was I supposed to tell? Harry and Ron? Yeah, I don't think so. They wouldn't even be able to deal with the idea that I was dating a Slytherin, let alone the fact that I was carrying the baby of one. And to be quite honest, I had no idea who it was that I was crying to that night. All I knew was that there was comfort there when I needed it.

"Besides, Matt, what would have Mommy and Daddy thought of you should they find out that you got a Mudblood pregnant? Or that you had even touched one" Hermione smirked. She may have trouble dealing with certain things, but she would get through it, just like everything else she had to get through. Pure cold-hearted responses and no emotion.

"You're a cold hearted bitch you know that?" Matt snarled

"Oh, but I do. You see, the fact that I'm a cold hearted bitch seems to just fit me so well. I'm not about to go and change that now am I? In fact, I would have to be bloody stupid to change that"

Matt just glared (**A/N **he seems to do a lot of that!) at the smirk that sat on Hermiones face.

"You really should've been in Slytherin. Been a slut with the rest of them. But wait, you cant, you don't have the blood" he countered her

"Betrador, if being a slut is what it takes to be a girl in Slytherin, I don't think I would want to be in the first place. You see, I have these things called morals that I like to live by. Being a slut ain't on of those morals"

"Betrador, just leave ok?" Malfoy stepped in, seeing the slight change in Hermione's stance. She was starting to lose what little control she held over her temper.

"Why should I?"

"Unless you would like your life ended, you will leave, understood?" Draco growled.

"Who's gonna do that? You? I don't think so. You wouldn't and couldn't"

"He may not be able to, be I can" a voice came from the shadows behind Draco.

Matt swung around to look for who the voice belonged to but couldn't find them.

"Don't bother looking you bastard. You're never going to find me"

"Betrador, if your as smart as I think, or at least, thought, you are, then you'll just turn and walk away from this. Away from me, away from my life and if you can, away from Hogwarts" Hermione's eyes bored into him, waiting for him to protest.

"Fine, I'll leave. For now. Just remember my dear 'Mi, you can never get away from me for good. I will always know where you are, just like you will always know where I am"

"Sorry, Matt" she spit the name, as if it was a foul taste that had just hit her tounge but in a few hours, you will never be able to trace me again."

Matt let that sink in and his eyes widened slightly. "Your going to do it? Never thought you would. You know, considering that its potentially life threatening. Who would do that for you?"

Hermione just starred at him. She wasn't going to tell him who it was, that would just create an extra danger.

"Leave, now" Draco pushed Matt away from the whole conversation

"It's Malfoy isn't it, Granger?" Matt said before turning to leave. "Never thought that a Gryffindor and Slytherin could be so stupid"

"We did it once, who says that it wouldn't be done again?" Hermione called after him before turning to the shadows.

"Ok Luke, I know that its you there. All I want to know is how much you heard?"

"Enough. Why didn't you ever tell me Mia?" he asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"Because it was never any of your damn business"

"Oh, so I cant be trusted, but Malfoy can? Malfoy knew months before I found out and I found out by accident. You told him when you guys were still complete enemies, yet you couldn't tell me when I was one of your best friends. What else is there that you haven't told me?" Luke's posture was rigid, showing that he was upset. He was starting to le the Slytherin in him take over.

"A whole hell of a lot. And you want to know something? You're never going to find out. You've found out everything that you will ever know about me Luke. And that's all I want you to know"

"Fine, you're going to be that way eh? Whatever. Your going to be a bitch, then I'll just leave you to yourself. Oh, by the way, here" he reached into his pocket and pulled out an mini bag of assorted muggle sweets. "Dallas, Eva and I picked this up one day for you one day, waiting for a day when you were skipping and not feeling great to give it to you and we figured today was perfect so I just came to drop it off" He tossed the bag to her, and turned to leave

"This just proves the theory, you know that right? You know that theory that I told you about last year. The one about Slytherins? How they're just mean, cold-hearted, ruthless bastards who get what they want and leave or don't get what the want and storm off like two year olds. Remember how I told you that all Slytherins were the same and, yet, I, for some reason, trusted you to be different. To be the one to break that mould. I guess I was wrong wasn't I? You're just like the rest of them Luke, and as far as I'm concerned, you can just go to hell" Hermione turned around and headed down the corridor, starting to take the long route to the Head Common Room.

Draco watched her leave then turned to see Luke standing there, his jaw almost hitting the floor.

"She's right you know that don't you?" Draco said, scowling at him.

"Right about what?" Luke asked, snapping out of it

"Right about the fact that all Slytherins are ruthless bastards. Seriously, she would expect something like that from me or any one else that's in our house, but never, _never _would she actually expect you to sink that low. You have no idea what she's going through right now, yet your treating her like she's a piece of shit because she doesn't want to share everything about her life with you"

"I did not! All I want is for her to be honest with me" Luke shot back

"Well, she wouldn't be very honest if she told you now would she? What's honest in her opinion, isn't necessarily what you consider honest. Think about that while I see if I can go clean up this mess that you created"

With that, Draco turned and followed Hermione's path to the common room, hoping that she wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything before he get there.

&&&&

**__**

Ok, who saw that whole Hermione being pregnant and losing it coming? Or someone showing up in the shadows? Can anyone figure out what they're going to do?

**__**

READ THIS!! à I WILL NOT BE UPDATING FOR THE NEXT 2-3 WEEKS!! I'm Now Heading Into ALL my Major End Of Year Exams, and I fail any of these, I'm totally screwed for Highschool!! Please Forgive me and Blame the Government! They Are Gov't Exams that I Could've Written Last Year Had Jr High Not Gone to Grade9 Where I live!!

__

I know that this is kind of a crappy chapter, not living up to normal standards and all that fun crap, but what am I supposed to do? I was basically totally out of ideas when I was writing this so I was just piecing together little ideas that I have written down to try and create this for you guys for this weekend. Unless you would've liked to wait? Which I doubt!

I didn't leave much of a cliff hanger for all obvious reasons (read the bolded up above)

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Meg: I would love to look at your poem and if I choose to use it, I'll give full credit (as always!)

To anyone else who has a poem that they would like me to consider, just let me know and I'll look at it!

Last, THANKS TO ALL LOVED REVIEWERS!!

I didn't have this one Betaed but after this I WILL get them betaed (I promise!)

Email Updates Available Upon request

L&H Pure Mudblood

OOOH WAIT DON'T GO!!

Matt's Name Explanation: Betrador. Break the first part down and find the root word. (Betray is the root word!) Make sense now? If not, let me know and I'll send you a full explanation via email!!


	10. Chapter 10

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

__

"Fine, you're going to be that way eh? Whatever. Your going to be a bitch, then I'll just leave you to yourself. Oh, by the way, here" he reached into his pocket and pulled out an mini bag of assorted muggle sweets. "Dallas, Eva and I picked this up one day for you one day, waiting for a day when you were skipping and not feeling great to give it to you and we figured today was perfect so I just came to drop it off" He tossed the bag to her, and turned to leave

"This just proves the theory, you know that right? You know that theory that I told you about last year. The one about Slytherins? How they're just mean, cold-hearted, ruthless bastards who get what they want and leave or don't get what the want and storm off like two year olds. Remember how I told you that all Slytherins were the same and, yet, I, for some reason, trusted you to be different. To be the one to break that mould. I guess I was wrong wasn't I? You're just like the rest of them Luke, and as far as I'm concerned, you can just go to hell" Hermione turned around and headed down the corridor, starting to take the long route to the Head Common Room.

Draco watched her leave then turned to see Luke standing there, his jaw almost hitting the floor.

"She's right you know that don't you?" Draco said, scowling at him.

"Right about what?" Luke asked, snapping out of it

"Right about the fact that all Slytherins are ruthless bastards. Seriously, she would expect something like that from me or any one else that's in our house, but never, never would she actually expect you to sink that low. You have no idea what she's going through right now, yet your treating her like she's a piece of shit because she doesn't want to share everything about her life with you"

"I did not! All I want is for her to be honest with me" Luke shot back

"Well, she wouldn't be very honest if she told you now would she? What's honest in her opinion, isn't necessarily what you consider honest. Think about that while I see if I can go clean up this mess that you created"

With that, Draco turned and followed Hermione's path to the common room, hoping that she wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything before he get there.

&&&&

Luke stared after Draco, his eyes wide in disbelief. How could the Prince of Slytherin been so understanding of this girl that he had hated for so long. Yet, he, Luke, hadn't been understanding in the least towards his best friend. Mia was always there for him and he was always there for her, until now anyway.

When he looked at it now, he knew almost everything about her life that he could ever want to know. But there was so much more to learn, and he would love to find all of that out.

He turned and headed for his next class. About half way there he realized that he had already missed most of it, so what was the point in going for the rest? Eva or Dallis would give him anything that he had missed.

He groaned at the thought of them. How the hell was he going to explain this one? He had some major mess-ups in the past, it was true, but this had to be one of the worst. They all knew how far they could push Mia before she became pissed, and Luke had pushed beyond those limits more then he would've ever liked.

&&&

"**_Granger_**!"

Hermione glared at Malfoy from where she stood in her door frame. "Malfoy, you don't have to yell you know. Its not like I'm a long ways away"

"Shut up and get your ass down here Granger. We have a few things to discuss"

"No one orders me around Malfoy. You know that."

"Get. Down. Here. Now. Granger" he paused between each word, just showing that he didn't want to play around. He was dead serious.

Hermione sighed, but finally left her door frame and plopped down on a chair in front of the fire. (**A/N**: I used a New Word =P)

"Malfoy, you wanted to talk, so talk. What the hell do you want?"

"I want to know what your problem is. You're a stupid selfish bitch that constantly feels sorry for herself" he raged. He was sick and tired of seeing this day in day out. He wanted it stopped and he wanted it to stop now. "Look as me when I speaking to you Granger"

Hermione smirked at the fire, but wouldn't look at him. He didn't have control over her. No one did. She wasn't about to let anyone have any control either.

"I said, _look at me Granger_" Draco growled through clenched teeth. She had made a mistake pissing him off. He didn't care that it hadn't been meant to actually piss him off. He was standing up for a friend here.

Still Hermione refused to turn her gaze from the fire. Hell would freeze over before she did.

Draco stalked towards her and raised his hand, as if to slap. He was good and angry now.

"Malfoy, so much as touch me with that hand and you'll never have children"

"Then look at me you stupid bitch. And explain to me what the hell your problem is. Yor going around here, feeling sorry for yourself like you the only one in this world that has problems. So what, the Idiot Duo that you clung to for so long didn't see that you were hurting. Big deal, it happens to all of us. Your parents beat you. Yeah, well newsflash, there's more then one person in this room that that happens too. Yes, even it happens to me. You want to know what drove me to pick up that knife for the first time? You really want to know? It was about 2 years ago, when I handed my father my report and he found out that after five years, a mudblood was stilling ahead of me in every class. He beat me because of that. And then he just left. He took my mother and left. He took that one person away from me that I cared about. I found a note about a week later. It was from him stating that he hoped to find me dead when he walked through that door at the end of the summer. So, I picked up that knife and I cut. I cut as far down as I could, to produce the most damage. I let the sonofabitch get to me. And he's been getting to me for the last 2 years"

Draco looked down at Hermione, she had her knees pulled up to her chest, slowing racking back and forth, still watching that flame.

"That paint a picture of what its like to be me Granger"

She didn't answer immediately. She could feel Draco standing over her, his arms holding either side of the chair so that she couldn't just get up and leave. She could feel as he breathed in and out. She could almost hear his heart me. Yet, she still couldn't bring herself to look up at him. His gaze was boring into her. She could feel, smell, tough and hear it. A slow smirk grew on her face.

"My problem on this earth is stupid bastards that don't know when to shut up. Assholes how feel this need to pry. People who pretend to know what they're talking about, yet know absolutely nothing. People who lie and cheat. I don't like people Malfoy. They cant be trusted. Hell, I don't even trust myself. How the hell am I supposed to trust another person. Malfoy, do you want to know why I like to hang out with guys so much. Why I avoid confrontation with girls? Because girls pry. Girls have this need to figure out what's wrong. They have this 6th sense that can sense when a friend isn't herself. They like to ask questions. Figure things out that aren't any of their business. Guys don't pry. Not normally. They're pretty good about shouting up when you tell them too. So what if they know how to piss you off. They leave you alone. They don't dig deep into a personal life. Until Luke, a guy had never been able to pick up on these things. No guy I knew could tell me what I was actually feeling, when I was actually feeling it"

Draco shook his head as she finished. "Granger, your wrong. That's not true. Girls just tend to actually express it when they sense that a friend has something truly wrong. Guys don't. We like to wait for you to come forward with your problem. Or, at least, that's the way people like me or Dallis or Luke think. Or, at least, Luke used to. Granger you changed him. You turned him soft. But I want you to listen very closely to what I'm about to say, because you need to hear it.

"You seem to think that best friends just come and go. That you'll get one and when that one gets too close you can just push them away and find someone else. I hate to break it to you, but life doesn't work that way. Not letting any get close to you is like sabotaging your life as a whole. As much as I hate to admit it, you had two great best friends, and you let them go. Now you have three and your pissing them off constantly, pushing them as far away from you as possible. You picked the wrong people to do that to. They wont leave you alone, no matter how mad you've made them. My grandma once told me this: _best friends are you're guardian angels, because no matter where you are in life, they'll always be there if you need a shoulder to cry on. _That's why I've never had a true best friend Granger. I cant let anyone in close enough. In a lot of ways, you and I are the same person Granger, just live two separate lives. We've both got to face the facts of our lives."

Silence cloaked them as he finished. Hermione watched the fire as it performed it's ritual. She needed to think. There was too much going on. Too much to think about. She couldn't handle it. She needed her knife. She needed to figure out how to get it back from Malfoy

Draco caught her rubbing her wrist absentmindedly as she looking into a world all her own. He knew what that meant.

"Granger, no. Not going to happen. I'm not giving you back your blade. We made a deal. And I don't break those"

"Who are you to tell me what I can and cant do Malfoy. Your not my father, your not my brother, your not my boyfriend, hell, your not even my friend"

"I can tell you what to do because you don't seem t have grasped the concept on how to run your life up to this point. In fact, from this point on, you will do what I tell you, when I tell you to do it. You will not leave my sight. That's easy enough considering we're in all the same classes, you can sit with Luke or Dallas at the Slytherin table and when I leave you leave. We will sleep in the same room if that's what it'll take. And the first thing your going to do is get your ass over to the Slytherin common room and apoligize to Luke. You hear me? And I coming with you to make sure that that's exactly what you do. Do not try to fight me on this. You will not win"

Hermione glared at him. He had not right to do this. But then why couldn't she fight him on it.

__

Because everything he's said is right. You messed up your life and you cant fix it. You need to help you.

****

Shut Up, I do not need him to do anything. I can handle myself.

"Malfoy, do me a royal favour and fuck off. Back away from my life"

"No Granger, from this point on you and I will be linked in everyway we can think of. Whether its psychologically, physically, emotionally or anything between. From this point on I'm just as much you as you are me. God dammit, I will _breath _for you if I have to!"

"Malfoy, how dare you try to run my life! It wasn't you who messed it up and it's not your job to fix it. It's my job. I screwed it up, I have to fix. That is, I have to fix it if I choose. Besides, why is my life such a big deal anyway? If I leave then that's one less screw up on this earth"

"It was yours to mess-up. And don't think that for one moment I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this for me, for Luke, for Dallas and especially Eva. Those three have done nothing but be there for the two of us for years. Now it's my turn to do something for them in return. Granger, this isn't for your sake. It's for theirs. They lose you, they will be crushed. You cant just leave them behind, expecting them to just simply understand something that they simply couldn't"

Hermione looked into his eyes and for the first time saw only one thing. Sincerity. He was telling the truth. And he was right. She couldn't do this to them. They would be destroyed. It just wouldn't be fair to them if she did something like that.

She slowly started to nod. "Ok, Malfoy. Ok, I'll do it. You want to help me, then you have to trust me to help you. Like we agreed earlier" she raised her hand, waiting for his answer.

"Deal" he reached out his hand to take her surprisingly soft and gentle one.

"Let's go" Hermione got up and headed to the door.

"Go? Go where?" Draco was thoroughly confused.

"To apologize to Luke, you jack ass" she grinned and that mischievous spark entered her eye's again.

That's a good sign. A _very _good sign.

&&&&

****

"You what?!?!" Eva yelled at her brother.

"I went to take those things to Mia, found her talking with someone, sort of heard everything that was said, then let her know I knew and then basically let the Slytherin in me truly show" he said all in one breath.

"I can's believe this. Ok, so we knew she was hiding soething from us, something big. We've always understood that. But I cant believe your reaction to it! How the hell did you manage to screw so badly? You never let your true Slytherin colors show, why start now?" Dallis was pissed. Luke had just totally blown it.

"Look, I said I was sorry ok? What the hell else am I supposed to do?"

"Fix it. Find a way to clean up your mess Luke. Because this is one we cant clean up for you" Eva said

"He has absolutely nothing to clean up because, besides eaves dropping, he did nothing wrong"

Three heads swung towards the door to see Hermione and Draco standing there. Looking. . . happy. Odd.

"Mia, I never should've reacted the way I did" Luke told her

"You reacted no differently then I would've. I'm glad you know more about me now. I truly am. Because I don't like hiding things from you. But you have to understand that theres things in my life that I just don't want anyone else to know about. Certain things that I wanted to keep secret and they shall always remain that way ok?"

"Ok Mia. We can respect that. Everyone has things in their lives that they don't want to share and I don't expect you share everything" Eva walked up and gave Hermione a quick hug. The other two followed suit.

"Ok, ok. That's enough. Is everything cool between us now?"

Three heads nodded and Hermione walked all the way into the room and sat down on one of the couches, Draco following suit and sitting in the other corner of the couch.

Draco looked over at her as a genuine smile started to make its way across her face. _She'll get better. It may take some time and many relapses, but in the end, she'll be just fine. One worry: How the hell are we going to make it through this together?_

&&&&


	11. Chapter 11

**__**

Dedication: This is for one of the two best friends a girl could ever ask for. Eva, girl, this one's all for you!! Thanks for the inspiration that you provide for me every time we talk. Luv You Forever and Ever Sweetie!!

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

****

Line Disclaimer: _best friends are you're guardian angels, because no matter where you are in life, they'll always be there if you need a shoulder to cry on _Compliments of Mercy (She knows who she is!!) -- Used in Chapter 10

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

**__**

"You what?!?!" Eva yelled at her brother.

"I went to take those things to Mia, found her talking with someone, sort of heard everything that was said, then let her know I knew and then basically let the Slytherin in me truly show" he said all in one breath.

"I can's believe this. Ok, so we knew she was hiding soething from us, something big. We've always understood that. But I cant believe your reaction to it! How the hell did you manage to screw so badly? You never let your true Slytherin colors show, why start now?" Dallis was pissed. Luke had just totally blown it.

"Look, I said I was sorry ok? What the hell else am I supposed to do?"

"Fix it. Find a way to clean up your mess Luke. Because this is one we cant clean up for you" Eva said

"He has absolutely nothing to clean up because, besides eaves dropping, he did nothing wrong"

Three heads swung towards the door to see Hermione and Draco standing there. Looking. . . happy. Odd.

"Mia, I never should've reacted the way I did" Luke told her

"You reacted no differently then I would've. I'm glad you know more about me now. I truly am. Because I don't like hiding things from you. But you have to understand that theres things in my life that I just don't want anyone else to know about. Certain things that I wanted to keep secret and they shall always remain that way ok?"

"Ok Mia. We can respect that. Everyone has things in their lives that they don't want to share and I don't expect you share everything" Eva walked up and gave Hermione a quick hug. The other two followed suit.

"Ok, ok. That's enough. Is everything cool between us now?"

Three heads nodded and Hermione walked all the way into the room and sat down on one of the couches, Draco following suit and sitting in the other corner of the couch.

Draco looked over at her as a genuine smile started to make its way across her face. **She'll get better. It may take some time and many relapses, but in the end, she'll be just fine. One worry: How the hell are we going to make it through this together**?

&&&&

Hermione and Draco ran into Potions the next day. . . ten minutes late.

"Good to have you two back" Snape sneered. "Detention, both of you, tomorrow night. Now sit down! And seeing as we've already re-paired your partners, the two of you can work together for today"

Draco glared at Hermione as they sat down. It was all her fault to begin with, and considering they had performed the binding spell last night, they couldn't be split to far apart. This was a dangerous thing to do though. If they did get split up for a reason other then something dire (ie: serious sickness, death etc. . ), one could get seriously injured, or be killed. Not the best thing in the world, but it was the only way that they could stand to be in the same area for any amount of time.

Hermione could feel his gaze on her and she very tactfully avoided looking at him. She had had the nerve to wake up 15 minutes late and then by the time she was done in the bathroom they only had 5 minutes to make it to class. And then half way to class she realized she had forgotten her bag. So they had to run all the way back to get it and it wasn't until they reached the common room again that either had even thought about just _Accio_-ing it to them.

Of course Draco had gotten pissed off and they got in a yelling match. Finally they realized that they were late and ran the whole way to the potions room, still to find themselves ten minutes late.

But it wasn't all her fault. Draco had been in the exact same room as her the night before because the distance between rooms was to great. So they had decided that one night they would be in Hermione's room the next Draco's, and so on. No, they _did not _share a bed. One slept on their bed, the other slept on a couch

Draco knew that he could've woken her up, but she had looked so peaceful when he had gotten up that he just didn't feel like waking her. That and Hermione first thing in the morning was a real bitch. Not something he wanted to deal with. Besides, she should've been up by the time he had gotten out of the shower, right? Wrong. She was still sleeping. It wasn't until breakfast was over that she finally woke up.

They went through the class, saying little to each other. Just lots of, "pass this", "can you grab this?" and "I'll get it, you finish this"

Luke and Dallas watched all this take place. Just last night, Hermione and Draco had gotten along really well, what the hell happened in less then 8 hours?

Finally the bell rang, signalling lunch. Why they had double potions first thing in the morning was beyond any of the students, but the sound of that bell going was pure heaven to them.

"Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy, stay behind for a moment" Snape called as the kids started to literally fly out of the class.

"You two, I want you down here tomorrow night at 8pm. No later" he waved his hand. "You are dismissed"

"Granger, why in the hell did you have to sleep in?" Draco growled once they were heading up the stairs from the dungeons.

"Why couldn't you have woken me?" she shot back

"Never wake a sleeping bitch, Hermione. And that's exactly what you are"

"Wounded Malfoy, really. God, I know I'm a bitch, that's who I am!"

Draco just glared at her again. Sure, he could've yelled some more, but she was in a bad mood today. But what else was new right?

Hermione sat down between Dallas and Luke, receiving several glares from the other Slytherins around her.

"Back off and watch yourselves. I'm stronger than you all are combined and I'm in a bitchy mood today. Go ahead and test me if you wish, I really wouldn't mind getting into a fight or two, today" she picked up a sandwich and started eating as the Slytherins just starred at her.

Finally she looked around at them, one eye brow raised, "Like you didn't expect this along time ago and it ain't like I haven't sat here before, so turn around, eat your food and mind your own fucking business"

And surprisingly, they all did. Draco had to admit, he was impressed. Besides him, he had never seen anyone get the Slytherins to back down like that. And her being a Gryffindor just made the situation hilarious.

And so the days of that week passed by, Hermione's mood seemingly worsening by the day. Apparently the good moods were always short lasting. Saturday finally arrived, and it still wasn't soon enough for Draco. He was at the point where he was ready to kill Hermione. All she did was bitch and complain about their "situation". But in his mind this and anything else she threw at him was all worth it to keep her alive. He didn't even admit it to himself though. Never would, or at least, that's what he had thought. . .

"Malfoy, come on I want to go to the Library" Hermione was already up and headed for the door as she said this. Draco saw that he really had no choice but to follow. He didn't feel like fighting today, not with her anyway.

Reaching the library, Hermione walked through the wooden doors and headed straight for the almost hidden table in the back, not so much as looking at anyone. She knew that this was driving Draco insane, but tough, he would just have to deal.

Draco sat down across from her and watched as she wrote furiously in her Poems book (note book). Her hand flew across the page and he saw a small wave of relief wash over her as she finished one and signed it and worked her way to her next one.

Finally, she looked up only to see him studying her. She bit her lip and looked down at her book then back up at him. She continued looking back and forth for a while then handed him the notebook turned to her newest poems.

"Tell me what you think. You'll read them eventually anyway, so might as well get your opinion now"

Draco looked at the small writing in front of his eyes, almost unsure of whether or not he should actually look. But then seeing the soft look on her face and the slight fear in her eyes he started to read.

**__**

My Angel

Us are two  
Life to life  
Blood to Blood  
We've survived so much strife

Forgive and forget  
Words un-need  
Hate and sorrow  
Never lead

What is there  
Everything will lost  
Dont ever forget  
This dire cost

For you  
I'm here  
And will always turn  
A listening ear

Everywhere to look  
Your ever present in my eyes  
Your truly amazing  
My angel in disguise

Draco starred at the page for a few seconds before flipping to the next one.

**__**

Sorry Thats Life

Who said life is fair?   
Do some of us even care is there a point in living?  
Is there a point in forgiving?  
We all ruin someone's lives drag them through the mud.  
Why even bother a person anger them push them to the edge?   
When they did nothing to you.   
It's a game no one wins so why play?   
Because that's LIFE.   
People no matter how old you are and nice you are to someone.   
They will never give you the satisfaction   
or even the thought of calling you a friend.  
We fall cause we think we own the world.   
People make up the world some say we make our own problems.   
But that isn't so usually others create our conflict.  
We are forced to deal with something we are not adapted to.   
We some times confront or get angry at the person.   
When our aggression is boxed up inside   
some do the unthinkable whose to blame it could be you.   
Take hold of every moment and treasure it for life is a  
gem it grows into something beautiful just like you.

(AN: **Sorry, That's Life** was written by my best friend Eva and fully belongs to her. **My Angel** was written by me and was for Eva about 2 weeks ago. Anyway, on with the story!)

"Granger. . ." he trailed off at a total loss for what to say.

She looked into his eyes, looking for something, anything that would show that someone was proud of her.

Draco got up and gracefully walked around .

"Hermione" he trailed his pail finger down her cheek as she looked up at him.

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. For the first time in 3 years, tears began to roll down her cheeks. And there was no stopping it.

Draco sat on the bench and pulled her close, rocking her, just letting her cry. Cry as if that would make everything alright again. This was the first mountain that they had climbed up on two different paths and had made their way to the bottom together.

&&&&

__

Hey Guys

I had so much inspiration for the chapter from Eva and there's a reason that she's in the story!! Really like 2 of my last 4 chapters should be fully dedicated to her because until I talked to her I had zero inspiration.

I love all me readers to pieces and need my reviews!! I don't have this chapter beta-ed and while we're on the subject: **I need one new beta for this story! **But I'm looking for someone who checks their email every couple of days at the very most because that's all I give before I just put it up anyway!

Sorry this was so short, but I needed to leave it off there and making it longer meant it would take longer to get up!!

Anyway, let me know what you think!!

Pure Mudblood

****

Email Updates Available Upon Request


	12. Chapter 12

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Reaching the library, Hermione walked through the wooden doors and headed straight for the almost hidden table in the back, not so much as looking at anyone. She knew that this was driving Draco insane, but tough, he would just have to deal.

Draco sat down across from her and watched as she wrote furiously in her Poems book (note book). Her hand flew across the page and he saw a small wave of relief wash over her as she finished one and signed it and worked her way to her next one.

Finally, she looked up only to see him studying her. She bit her lip and looked down at her book then back up at him. She continued looking back and forth for a while then handed him the notebook turned to her newest poems.

"Tell me what you think. You'll read them eventually anyway, so might as well get your opinion now"

Draco looked at the small writing in front of his eyes, almost unsure of whether or not he should actually look. But then seeing the soft look on her face and the slight fear in her eyes he started to read.

**__**

My Angel

(Insert poem **My Angel **here)

Draco starred at the page for a few seconds before flipping to the next one.

****

Sorry Thats Life

(Insert Poem **Sorry That's Life **here)

"Granger. . ." he trailed off at a total loss for what to say.

She looked into his eyes, looking for something, anything that would show that someone was proud of her.

Draco got up and gracefully walked around .

"Hermione" he trailed his pail finger down her cheek as she looked up at him.

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. For the first time in 3 years, tears began to roll down her cheeks. And there was no stopping it.

Draco sat on the bench and pulled her close, rocking her, just letting her cry. Cry as if that would make everything alright again. This was the first mountain that they had climbed up on two different paths and had made their way to the bottom together.

&&&&

Draco woke up the next morning, tired and worried. He had seen a side to Hermione last night that he once had hoped to never see again. Last year after losing the baby had been bad. Somehow, this time just seemed to be much worse.

He dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower. Looking at the image in the mirror was revolting. You would assume that he hadn't slept for the last 5 days. Only question was, was this from lack of sleep or from worry?

After his quick shower, he just let his hair fall naturally around his face, hoping that this would draw any attention away from how repulsive he really looked. Not that anyone out there would actually think he, Draco Malfoy, could look repulsive, but there was always the chance.

He smirked at his reflection. Return of Draco Malfoy. The hard-ass that most the entire school was terrified of. No one out there needed to know that the true Draco was nice and sweet who cared, to some degree, about other people.

He heard a stirring in his room and saw that Hermione was up. Good thing his bed was against the wall because otherwise, he had a pretty good chance of being dead right now. How you forget that your bound to another person, he could never guess, but it was him after all. Draco usually didn't know what was going on in Draco's head, how could anyone else ever have a chance in hell at figuring it out..

He watched as she walked into the washroom, and was surprised to see that she was wearing one of his T-Shirts. She looked just as god-awful as he did. That in itself was oddly satisfying.

"Mornin' Granger" he greeted

"Fuck off Malfoy. It's too early to be happy" she glared at him as she headed directly for the shower.

"Are you not going to look in the mirror this morning? You'd find that you have a truly beautiful reflection, really" he nodded his head to try and make it look like he was telling the truth.

"Draco, please, I know I look like shit. Now leave so I can take a shower" Hermione grumbled.

"Fine, fine, don't believe me Hermione. Your choice" shrugging, he headed for the bedroom, making sure not to go to far away from the door There was lee-way in the spell, but not that much.

Hermione just sneered after him and climbed into the shower as the door slammed shut behind him

&&&

Luke and Dallis headed towards the Ravenclaw common room to pick up Eva.

"You like her don't you Luke?" Dallis sent a knowing look Luke's way

"How could I not? She's like my sister for gods sake, I don't have much choice in the matter now do I?" was the answer he gave

"That's not what I meant and you damn well know it"

Luke sighed, and ran his hand through his blond hair, looking uneasy. "I know. It's just, I do and I don't know how to deal with it. She's not perfect but every little imperfection in her is what makes her so real in my eyes" he paused, searching Dallis for the understanding that he knew he would find. "I just cant get her out of my mind. I love her Dallis, and I always have"

(**A/N**: _Ok, I spent like an hour looking for a description of Luke somewhere in my story, but I cant for the life of me find it! So if anyone knows where it is or if there is one, please tell me!!! -- Sorry for this, I'll get on with the story now_)

Luke gazed at Dallis for a second, seeing the need there for someone to understand what he was going through. But he also knew that that understanding couldn't come from him.

"Luke, you like her, you have to tell her, when you think the times right" was all he said as they approached that painted of the meadow that lead into the Ravenclaw commons

&&&

"Granger!" Draco hollered through the door. "Come on, Dumbledore just summoned us for a meet. . ." he stopped mid sentence as the door swung open. Hermione stood in form fitting jeans and a long sleeve T-Shirt. Both were black of course. ". . .ing" he finally finished.

"What are you looking at Malfoy?" a questioning look on her face as she finished pulling her hair into a pony-tail.

"You. . . You just look. . . like a girl" Draco answered lamely.

"Thanks, I think" she shook her head. "Now, about this meeting?"

"Umm, Dumbledore just sent for us. Said that he had something to discuss with us"

Hermione shrugged and headed for the door. "Come of Malfoy, I don't want to be late" she turned and beckoned him to follow., noticing that he seemed to have gotten frozen on the spot.

&&&

Eva glanced around, an uneasy feeling sinking into her bones. There was something very wrong with the aura that settled around the school today.

The morning had progressed like normal. Dallis and Luke had picked her up as normal. The only thing that she had found out of the ordinary there had been that Luke had a tension surrounding him. She picked that up immediately but she also picked up that whatever it was, was a topic best avoided.

She could read her brother like a book. She always had been able. When she was younger she thought that maybe it was a twin thing, but when they arrived at school, she found out that she could read most people auras. In fact, there were only three she was unable to read: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter.

At one time she had been able to read Hermione's and Harry's, but as they got older they seemed to have subconsciously learned how to block it off from the world. Draco she had never been able to read, no matter how hard she tried to.

It was a rare occasion though when she could see the entire schools aura so clearly. This usually meant that it had to do with someone close to her. That or it meant that whatever was about to happen was huge and that no matter what, it was going to come and no one would be able to stop it.

&&&

"Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy I trust that I can leave all this with you? No one will know correct?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, as it he already knew the answer.

"Yes sir. You can trust that it will go no further" Hermione answered, Draco nodding.

"Ok, well that concludes this meeting. You're free to go if you have no further questions"

Hermione and Draco looked at each other but neither seemed to be able to think of anything. "I think we'll go down to breakfast then. Good day sir" Draco nodded and waited as Hermione walked out the door.

"So, breakfast or no?" Draco asked once out in the corridor.

Hermione contemplated this for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not she should eat.

"You realize that that was a rhetorical question right? I don't exactly plan on letting you not eat. That would go against this whole watching out for you thing. Besides, I'm hungry and I don't care if you want to go in there or not, I need food in my body." With that Draco turned towards the Great hall, dragging Hermione behind him

&&&

"Mia, can you help me with the Potions homework tonight?" Eva questioned her friend at dinner later that evening.

Hermione shrugged as she picked at the food on the plate in front of her. "Sure, why not?"

Eva gave her a small smile of thanks before turning to join in the conversation that the boys were carrying on.

". . . I don't care who you are, you don't have to right to just run the lives of another living being. You can not tell them what to do or when to say something" Luke said passionately to Dallis.

"yeah but if it's been on your mind for any period of time it starts to eat away at you slowly. Come on Luke, we've all seen it happen" Dallis shot back.

"Guys, it totally depends on the situation. I mean, say I hated someone" Draco looked over and saw the look Dallis was giving him, "I know, I know, imagine that right? Anyway, I hate someone, and I refuse to tell them yet I have to boss them around so I make it very apparent. Then someone should be smart enough to step in and tell me to shut up and stop making a fool of myself. If a friend likes someone and has for a long time, I think its my obligation to tell them to get off their lazy ass and tell the person about it" He looked over at Hermione for some help, "right?"

"I'm not so sure. I mean, honestly, I personally think that we should tell someone something or we can offer help and advice but once its out there, what that particular person does with it is his or her decision" Hermione answered.

"I agree that someone should be able to give advice and that a person can either listen to it or not, but I also think that the advice giver should give some thought to whether or not that particular situation deserves advice or if the person is jus going to figure it out on their own" Eva said.

"Ok I'll agree with you that a friend can give advice but I agree with Mia. Once the advice is given then it should be left up to that person to choose what they should do with it" Luke stuck a piece of a dinner roll in his mouth as he finished.

"Luke, please, we don't need to see your food. Chew with your mouth closed" Eva said with a disgusted look.

"Ok, _mom_" he said after swallowing.

"Luke, I should come over there and kick your ass! Doing this however will only get me a detention and another one of mom's howlers. We've already had 7 of those this year between the two of us. I'm not so sure about you, but I really do not plan on getting anymore before Christmas" Eva said matter-of-factly.

"Ok Miss. I promise to be on my best behaviour from here on out" Luke saluted his sister.

Hermione was truly amazed at how her friends could have a change of topic so quickly. She shook her head and just watched as her friends started to get into another rather heated debate: about what the professor had truly meant when he assigned their astronomy homework.

&&&

"I will send for them immediately" Dumbledore told the two sitting in front of him. The only person they wanted to see was Hermione, but in light of the circumstances, if you wanted to see Hermione, you had to see Draco.

&&&

". . . so basically all Snape is looking for is a two and a half foot summary on these 6 pages? God, the way he explained it, he made it sound like we had to do hours upon hours of research to get a seven foot paper" Eva let out a huge sigh of relief when Hermione nodded, indicating that she was right.

"Anything else I can help you with?" Hermione asked

Eva looked at her, thinking. "No, I don't think so" she answered finally, shaking her head.

"Ok. Well I'm done my homework and I know Draco is" Hermione nodded at Draco, "so I think we should go and get some food from the kitchens"

"Sounds good to me. Draco?"

"I think I can handle that. . ." Draco trailed off as an owl flew in through the window and landed on Hermione's lap.

Hermione untied the letter from the owls leg and sent it off to the Owlery with a treat in its mouth. She skimmed it quickly.

"Well, Draco, it looks like Dumbledore is summoning us again. Looks like your going have to go to the kitchens without us. Go grab Luke and Dallis, they never give up a chance to get free food"

Eva nodded and the three walked out together and parted ways at the end of the corridor.

Eva couldn't believe the changes that had occurred between Draco and Hermione. They were getting along so nicely. It was weird. She knew better then to think that this would last forever, though. No, a good thing always had to end and for all she knew, that end could be within the next two minutes or two months or two years.

&&&

"Malfoy, do you have any idea why Dumbledore wants to see us again? We got all the information that we needed this morning, was else could we need to know?" Hermione questioned at they walked up the stairs.

"I have no idea what he would need to see us again so soon Granger" Draco answered.

"Well, I guess we are about to find out" Hermione grabbed the door handle and gently swung the door open and shot a glance at Draco when she saw who was sitting there.

"What the fu. . . what are you doing here?" Hermione asked the figures sitting in front of her. Of all the times for this to happen. Why now? Why when she was starting to get settled? What on earth had made her parents decide to show up now?

&&&

__

OOOO, cliffy!! My specialty of course! I promise that this one wont last for too long though. I'm sending this off to get beta-ed then you guys will get it. And to all loyal readers of Daddy I Luv You, I'm working on the finishing touches right now. I'll finish it tonight!

Thanks to all readers and reviewers!! I luv you guys! And a huge thanks to my betas, and a welcome to my newest beta! Thank you for volunteering for this!

I luv Everyone out there that reads this!

Pure Mudblood


	13. Chapter 13

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Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 13

By Pure mud blood and StormyAngelSky

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Dedication: this is for my best friend y. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have this chapter, literally. It's more her baby then it is mine. She came up with the majority of the ideas for the chapter. This would be non-existant had I not been talking to her. So a major thanks to her for this chapter and ideas that she's given me for the future.

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

****

Recommendation: Listen to _Broken by Seether and Amy Lee _**While reading this chapter!!**

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

"I will send for them immediately" Dumbledore told the two sitting in front of him. The only person they wanted to see was Hermione, but in light of the circumstances, if you wanted to see Hermione, you had to see Draco.

&&&

". . . so basically all Snape is looking for is a two and a half foot summary on these 6 pages? God, the way he explained it, he made it sound like we had to do hours upon hours of research to get a seven foot paper" Eva let out a huge sigh of relief when Hermione nodded, indicating that she was right.

"Anything else I can help you with?" Hermione asked

Eva looked at her, thinking. "No, I don't think so" she answered finally, shaking her head.

"Ok. Well I'm done my homework and I know Draco is" Hermione nodded at Draco, "so I think we should go and get some food from the kitchens"

"Sounds good to me. Draco?"

"I think I can handle that. . ." Draco trailed off as an owl flew in through the window and landed on Hermione's lap.

Hermione untied the letter from the owls leg and sent it off to the Owlery with a treat in its mouth. She skimmed it quickly.

"Well, Draco, it looks like Dumbledore is summoning us again. Looks like your going have to go to the kitchens without us. Go grab Luke and Dallis, they never give up a chance to get free food"

Eva nodded and the three walked out together and parted ways at the end of the corridor.

Eva couldn't believe the changes that had occurred between Draco and Hermione. They were getting along so nicely. It was weird. She knew better then to think that this would last forever, though. No, a good thing always had to end and for all she knew, that end could be within the next two minutes or two months or two years.

&&&

"Malfoy, do you have any idea why Dumbledore wants to see us again? We got all the information that we needed this morning, was else could we need to know?" Hermione questioned at they walked up the stairs.

"I have no idea what he would need to see us again so soon Granger" Draco answered.

"Well, I guess we are about to find out" Hermione grabbed the door handle and gently swung the door open and shot a glance at Draco when she saw who was sitting there.

"What the fu. . . what are you doing here?" Hermione asked the figures sitting in front of her. Of all the times for this to happen. Why now? Why when she was starting to get settled? What on earth had made her parents decide to show up now?

&&&

"Aren't you glad to see us Mione dear?" her "father" grinned at her.

"Yes, yes, father, very pleased" she kept as much sarcasm out of her voice as she could. The more snippy she got with them, the worse the next beating would be.

"Hermione, dear, come give your mommy a hug" Teresa held her arms out, waiting for Hermione to embrace her.

Draco caught Hermione's eye and shook his head slightly at her. "No mother, I'm perfectly comfortable standing here next to Draco" she sneered.

Ryan's mouth dropped, his eyes narrowing quickly. "Give your mother a hug Mione. She hasn't seen you for quite a long time"

Hermione mumbled something. "Sorry, Mione, we didn't hear that"

"My name isn't Mione" she whispered. "Now, can someone explain to me what you're doing here?"

"Well, we wrote Dumbledore here about how much we missed you and we wanted to know if we could come visit and take you out for the evening. He had our home temporarily connected to floo" Ryan explained. Hermione could tell that he was trying hard to keep his voice even.

"Of course, Miss Granger, the choice is all yours. If you already have other arrangements made then please, just carry on with those for tonight" Dumbledore sent her a little smile.

"As a matter of fact sir, yes, I do have plans. Draco and I were going to spend the evening out together, weren't we?" she looked at Draco, just asking him to play along.

"I'm afraid she's right sir. We were going to go out this evening. I was going to get her to give me some ideas for her birthday." He had remember Eva and Luke talking about Hermione's birthday being next week and thought that sounded like a really good excuse.

Hermione looked at him rather shocked for a second but quickly recovered. She didn't know that he knew when her birthday was.

Teresa's lips formed a tight little line as this had all gone on. "Well, then, you must join us as well" she nodded at Draco.

They looked at each other, trying to figure out how to get out of this one but nothing came to mind.

"Yes, I can just steal my daughter away at some point to give her her birthday gift" Ryan agreed.

Hermione breathed in deeply. "Ok, ok fine"

Teresa and Ryan smiled at their daughter and Dumbledore got up to lead them out to the carriage that was waiting. Hermione pulled Draco close to her, "You are to not leave my side tonight" she informed him.

"You really do not have anything to worry about Granger. Trust me, I would not leave you alone with him. " Draco assured her. They walked out together, Hermione slightly dizzy just from the thought of what Ryan's "birthday present" was.

"Besides," Draco added as a late after thought, "not like I can leave you anyway"

&&&

"Hey Eva are you alright?" Luke asked as they headed to the kitchens together.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Really Luke, there is no need for you to worry about me" Eva assured him and sent him a small smile.

"I've seen that look on your face ever since I met up with you this morning. You see something and it worries you. Come on, you know you cannot hide something like this from me. What's wrong?" Eva remained slightly, looking straight ahead.

"Eva, please, do not do this to yourself. We both know there is something wrong with you" Luke just pushed her a little further.

"Everything's dark. The sight all around here is grey and cloudy. I haven't seen anything like this for months. Last June actually, right before we went home for the summer. I'm pretty sure that had to do with the build up before Hermione set foot in her home again. We now know why she always got so moody right before she would go home" she chewed her lip, a nervous habit she had picked up from Hermione the previous year. "Luke, I just… I have no idea why its like this. Full truth, I'm scared. There's no hints as to what this all means. I just hope to the gods above that it's not Mia"

Luke pulled his sister into a hug. "I hope not to Eva. I pray that it has nothing to do with any of us"

Deep down though, they both knew that all the praying in the world wouldn't change the outcome to this day.

&&&

"Hermione, dear, may we accompany you to have tea before we leave?" Teresa questioned her daughter, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"Actually, Mother, I had some plans with friends" Hermione needed a way out and this was perfect. She wasn't even lying. Draco and her really did have plans with the others tonight.

"Hermione, we will not be seeing you again for quite some time as your mother and I are going away during your Christmas vacation." Ryan made it clear that she was not getting out of this.

Draco glanced at her. Her expression blank as it had been since they climbed into the carriage.

They had been able to dodge this all evening. Several times Ryan had tried to pull Hermione away but they always found an excuse. Apparently he was finally fed up with it all.

Hermione, knowing exactly what was coming, just simply nodded her head. Draco held her back slightly as her parents headed down the corridor in the direction the Hermione pointed.

"Listen to me. When we get there they are going to claim that they wish to spend time with just they're daughter without me around. Sit on the couch nearest the door. That will give us enough room if you or I move at all ok? We are already an hour late, so it wont be too much longer before one of others come to find out what happened to us. Do you think you can hold up until then?" Draco didn't receive an answer as they had reached the portrait. He hadn't even noticed that Hermione had been directing them the entire time.

"Hermione, do you think that Draco here could go somewhere else? Just so we can spend some time with you before we go" Ryan was playing this perfect father role too perfectly but Hermione just nodded numbly.

Draco hung back as Hermione walked in and sat in the forest green couch just by the door.

&&&

"Somethings not right Luke. They should've been here by now. To make things worse, it just go blacker" Eva's eyes filled with tears for a second before she quickly blinked them away.

"Alright Eva. Lets go. I cant remember the last time one of these readings or feelings were wrong" Luke grabbed Eva by the arm and signalled to Dallis to follow them.

"Mia, please, please, just be ok" Eva whispered as they ran down the hall.

&&&

"You thought you could run out here and hide did you, you stupid bitch?" Ryan yelled as he slapped her.

Hermione glared up at him. "I didn't think anything you bastard. Or did it slip your mind that I'm so apparently stupid?"

"Happy Birthday Daughter. May it be your last" Ryan threw Hermione to the ground.

&&&

Draco paced outside the door just waiting for help. Or for Hermione to come out and say she was alright. Which ever of the two came first.

"Draco!" Eva yelled.

"What?" he snapped at them as they came closer.

"Malfoy, man, what's wrong? Where were you two tonight?" Luke questioned.

"Not there…we were…they came…she…" Draco stuttered.

That's when they heard the scream.

"Hermione!" Eva screamed.

&&&

**__**

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away  
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

&&&

Dallis was the first through the door and to Hermione. He threw Ryan off of her and up against the wall, pinning him there keeping him from moving.

&&&  
  
**_'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away  
  
You've gone away, you don't feel me, anymore_**

&&&

Hermione rolled on her side just in time to see Dallis' fist connect with Ryan's jaw.

__

CRACK!

Ryan groaned in pain as his head was thrown to the side.

"Eva. Go get the first teacher you find. Now" Luke yelled at her running over to help Dallis as Ryan struggled against the hold.

Draco ran to Hermione when he saw that they had Ryan under control and he had stunned Teresa

"It will all be ok. I promise" he whispered to her as he put her head in his lap, stroking her hair back. There was so much blood.

If there's a God in Heaven, she'll be ok.

&&&

**_The worst is over now and we can breathe again  
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away  
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain  
  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm open  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away_**

&&&

Eva ran threw the door open, Dumbledore, Snape and Pomfrey all in tow.

"Is she ok? Lord, please, please, tell me she's ok" Eva's tears finally began to fall.

Pomfrey ran straight to Hermione's side as Professors Dumbledore and Snape ran over to help Luke and Dallis. Not that they needed it. Ryan was almost unconscious now anyway.

&&&

**_'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away  
  
You've gone away  
You don't feel me here anymore_**

&&&

Pomfrey began to treat Hermione's major wounds right there. Hermione felt as some of the bones started to fall back into place and some of the open wounds closed up.

"Hermione, you'll be just fine. I promised to protect you, to keep you alive and I'll keep you alive. I don't care if it kills me" Draco swore as he saw her eyes start to roll back.

"Mia, I'm so sorry" was the last thing she heard leave Draco's lips as the blackness silently kissed her, pulling her into it's own world.

All three Professors and the three friends surrounded Draco and Hermione as Draco shed his first tears since he was little. Only one thing caught they're attention

"Hermione, we just thought we would drop your birthday gift off…oh my god" all 7 heads turned to the open door to see Harry and Ron standing there, frozen in shock.

&&&

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Song used in this Chapter: **Broken** by Seether and Amy Lee

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Ok, I have one thing to clear up so would you please stop telling me this: LUKE AND MIA WILL **NOT** GET TOGETHER. NOT NOW NOT EVER!! ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS EWWWW!!!!

Now that's done, let me know what y'all think! O and thanks to SAS and Luke! You guys are awesome and I needed all your words! I don't know if I ever put anything in here but Luke is a real person and he's awesome! And Luke, if you read this, I hate you! You were supposed to be the one to save the day but as I was working on this we were in the fight conversation and after that I just couldn't do it. I couldn't put you in the fight!

To all readers and reviews thank you so much!! You guys mean the world to me and you helped me break 100 reviews for the first time ever!! You made me so happy!!

I'm done now. Was that a good end to the Cliffy at the end of Chapter 12? Hope so cause I like this chapter.

Luv You All

L&H  
Pure Mudblood


	14. Chapter 14

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Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Hermione rolled on her side just in time to see Dallis' fist connect with Ryan's jaw.

CRACK!

Ryan groaned in pain as his head was thrown to the side.

"Eva. Go get the first teacher you find. Now" Luke yelled at her running over to help Dallis as Ryan struggled against the hold.

Draco ran to Hermione when he saw that they had Ryan under control and he had stunned Teresa

"It will all be ok. I promise" he whispered to her as he put her head in his lap, stroking her hair back. There was so much blood.

If there's a God in Heaven, she'll be ok.

&&&  
**The worst is over now and we can breathe again  
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away  
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain**

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

&&&

Eva ran threw the door open, Dumbledore, Snape and Pomfrey all in tow.

"Is she ok? Lord, please, please, tell me she's ok" Eva's tears finally began to fall.

Pomfrey ran straight to Hermione's side as Professors Dumbledore and Snape ran over to help Luke and Dallis. Not that they needed it. Ryan was almost unconscious now anyway.

&&&  
**'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away  
You've gone away  
You don't feel me here anymore**

&&&

Pomfrey began to treat Hermione's major wounds right there. Hermione felt as some of the bones started to fall back into place and some of the open wounds closed up.

"Hermione, you'll be just fine. I promised to protect you, to keep you alive and I'll keep you alive. I don't care if it kills me" Draco swore as he saw her eyes start to roll back.

"Mia, I'm so sorry" was the last thing she heard leave Draco's lips as the blackness silently kissed her, pulling her into it's own world.

All three Professors and the three friends surrounded Draco and Hermione as Draco shed his first tears since he was little. Only one thing caught they're attention

"Hermione, we just thought we would drop your birthday gift off…oh my god" all 7 heads turned to the open door to see Harry and Ron standing there, frozen in shock.

&&&

Draco sat, looking at the pale face of Hermione, just willing her to move, to open her eyes, to say something. There was nothing though. Hermione hadn't moved since she was brought in here three days earlier.

Only the day before had he realized that the bond between them was broken. There was no longer a physical link between them, yet he just couldn't leave her alone here. Ryan was in pretty rough condition still but he would live. All he had was a broken jaw but that would heal with the proper amount of time. They had left yesterday.

He just couldn't wrap his mind around this. The fact that Hermione, this creature that had done little to deserve what she got was on the verge of dying right this moment, while her parents were walking free.

Luke had seemed to be avoiding coming in as much as he could. Eva and Dallis were there every second they got. Even Harry and Ron had been by a few times. Luke though, Luke seemed to just come at mandatory times, making sure to stop by for no more then 5 minutes two times a day.

Draco looked back down at the angelic face of Hermione. She looked so innocent, just lying there. It was because of this that she looked so eerie though. Hermione Granger wasn't innocent, not really. The peaceful air that was about her was the scariest aspect of all. She was way to peaceful. All they needed her to do was a move a finger to tell them that she would be fine.

&&&

Luke looked down at the book he had open in his lap, pretending to read it. Not a single word he had read was making sense though. All he wanted to do was go and see Mia but every time he was there it was all he could do not to let all the tears he had been holding back, fall.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Someone was supposed to watch over her at all times. That was just a given. How could Draco just let her go with them, knowing exactly what they were going to do? Luke just couldn't understand why he would let this happen.

He ran his hand through his blond hair and rubbed his navy eyes. He was exhausted but every time he tried to sleep, all he could see was a picture of Hermione laying on the floor in a puddle of her own blood.

He jumped slightly as a hand rested on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Eva standing there, a worried expression on her face.

"Luke, what's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong" he jerked out of her grip.

"You know what I mean. Our best friend is in there, basically dying and your sitting here reading" she cried at him, built anger and frustration starting to show through.

"What do you want me to Eva? Do you have any suggestions, because I'm out of ideas. I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore. She wouldn't even be in there if we hadn't pushed so hard for her to start hanging out with Malfoy more. If it hadn't been for him she wouldn't have been in there on her own"

"Don't do this. it's not our fault. Its not ever his fault. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe, just maybe, it doesn't have anything to do with any of us? That maybe they could not have stopped this from happening? Did it even occur to you that, without Draco being around, Hermione would've been lost a long time ago?"

"Hermione would've been lost a long time? But, how? Nothings wrong with her! With us around, she would've been just fine"

"Luke, sweetie, you are in denial. Look at it from Mia's point of view. In her eyes, we have next to no problems. Draco's lived like she has. Draco knows what its like to live the way she has had to"

Luke looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time since Eva had walked in. "I know Eva. I just cant get that picture out of my head. She's so far away and all I want to do is grasp the smallest part of her to pull her back to us" he chewed his lip a little, getting up to look out the window

"I know sweetie" Eva wrapped her arms around her brother. "I know you want to, but its not up to us anymore. All we can do now is let her know that we're here for her whenever she decide to come back"

&&&

Hermione floated farther and farther away, accepting the fate she knew lay ahead. All she had to do was wait for life to release her from hits clutches.

She knew why life wouldn't let her go though. She couldn't let her friends go and they couldn't say goodbye to her. Why was she tempted to let it all go though? Why did she want so badly to just say good bye to this life and start a new one, one where she couldn't remember anything?

Hermione stared into the blackness. That's all it was, blackness. You could see nothing, but you could feel everything. Every touch, every breath of air, every word someone breathed into her ears, she could feel.

All she saw though, was an endless hole and she knew then that she had little time to make this decision.

&&&

Harry looked over at Ron. They stood in the door of the hospital wing, watching Draco sit there beside Hermione.

"Why Harry? Why is it him sitting there with her, trying to bring her back, and not us? We should be the ones sitting there. We should've been the ones to save her from her father and bring her here. You and I are the ones the are supposed to be there for her. So why aren't we?"

"Ron, this wasn't a decision that we made. It was hers. We just couldn't face that she had life outside of us. That she had problems just as we did and still do. Hermione was perfect in our world. We didn't even really notice her personality changes" Harry moved his eyes back to the scene in front of him, focusing on keeping his breathing as steady as possible. "I have a question for you Ron. One that I don't even know the answer to. Do you know what has taken place in her life out side of us and her parents over the last couple of years?"

Ron looked dumbfounded for a second. "Honestly Harry? No, I have no clue. I've been so wrapped up in my own life, that I forgot Hermione needed friends to. That Hermione Granger was more then just a homework helper and good listener. I quite literally forgot that under her brains, there was a real person there"

Harry shook his head and sort of laughed. "Just think, all this time we have wasted on ourselves, while our best friend has been slowly wasting away. And we couldn't figure out why she left us"

Harry met Ron's eyes. "We screwed Ron, and now we may never have a chance to fix it"

&&&

Dallas sat back and watched the world around him slowly become unravelled.

His best friend was sitting next to a bed of a girl that he had claimed to hate for so long. Now he had tears in his eyes at the thought of actually losing her.

Luke had become silent. Saying only what he needed to. His source of greatest enjoyment was laying on a bed, and no one knew if she would ever come back. Dallas saw how carefully Luke avoided the hospital wing. Then he just disappeared for hours on end.

Eva spent all her spare time in the hospital wing with Hermione, just talking to her. When she wasn't there, she was comforting someone or catching up on her homework. Dallas couldn't recall if they had even had an actual conversation since The Incident.

Dallas' world was collapsing around him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. All he could do was sit back and watch it all happen. He knew everything would fall back into place, but he also knew that nothing would happen the way they all wanted it to.

The deciding factor on what exactly would take place would be put in the unconscious hands of Hermione Granger, and there was nothing they could do to change the out come of the decision that she made. The only thing left to do now was watch and wait and just pray that she would make a good choice.

&&&

__

Hey Guys!

Sorry this took so long!! I've been so busy with school, work and volunteering that I've barely had time to even turn my computer on! I just had time to basically get a few paragraphs here and there written in an incredibly boring class.

So I hope that this was worth the wait. And I'll try and have the next chapter as soon as possible. I have a 4.5 day weekend coming up, so I hope that I'll have another chapter done.

PLEASE let me know what you think. I hope you all love it! And if anyone has any ideas, let me know, I'm open to anything.

Hugs and Kisses,

Pure Mudblood


	15. Chapter 15

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

&&&&

__

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Dallas sat back and watched the world around him slowly become unravelled.

His best friend was sitting next to a bed of a girl that he had claimed to hate for so long. Now he had tears in his eyes at the thought of actually losing her.

Luke had become silent. Saying only what he needed to. His source of greatest enjoyment was laying on a bed, and no one knew if she would ever come back. Dallas saw how carefully Luke avoided the hospital wing. Then he just disappeared for hours on end.

Eva spent all her spare time in the hospital wing with Hermione, just talking to her. When she wasn't there, she was comforting someone or catching up on her homework. Dallas couldn't recall if they had even had an actual conversation since The Incident.

Dallas' world was collapsing around him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. All he could do was sit back and watch it all happen. He knew everything would fall back into place, but he also knew that nothing would happen the way they all wanted it to.

The deciding factor on what exactly would take place would be put in the unconscious hands of Hermione Granger, and there was nothing they could do to change the out come of the decision that she made. The only thing left to do now was watch and wait and just pray that she would make a good choice.

&&&

Draco walked back to the common room, looking at the roof. Madam Pomfrey had finally made him leave the Hospital Wing. Apparently him not sleeping was a bad thing. He highly doubted that he would sleep anyway.

He walked to whole way, his eyes glued to the ceiling. He couldn't look straight ahead and a Malfoy never looked down at his feet it was a sign of defeat. His only other option was to look up.

He couldn't figure out why she was _this _important to him. Sure, he saw her as a pretty close friend now, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. Thinking about how she might wake up to find that no one was there. Most of all though, thinking about how his life would be if he never had a chance to tell her everything that was on his mind. That she meant the world to him, yet she meant so little to him. He wanted to tell her what he truly felt. Everything was just so messed up in his head. He thought that he hated her yet he was pretty sure that he loved her. The thoughts in his head looked like one of those paintings that a little kid does, with all the colours mixed together, with little rhyme or reason.

The portrait hole swung open and finally he brought his eyes down, looking at the spot where he had been sitting with her, holding her. It was clean now, nothing but a memory in the minds of those who had seen it all happen.

Why on earth had he let her go in there alone with them? What had held him back from going in that room with them? This could've been prevented. It all could've been stopped. He just hadn't been fast enough. Now Hermione was dying and it was all his fault.

No, no it wasn't. It was Ryan's fault. He had done this. Ryan had been the one to bring Hermione to the point of near death. It was Draco's fault though because he let it get that far in the first place.

&&&

Hermione had realized that all the black around her was just all colours ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other swirling around her.

She had realized this sometime in the last of the few endless hours when it had started to lighten up.

Hermione was confused as to why it had started to lighten. She had expected that to happen when she had finally made her decision. Her mind and heart still said two different things though. She remained stuck between the two decisions. All she knew was that she was quickly running out of time.

Soon her soul was just going to make this decision for her. She wasn't to sure she would like the outcome either.

&&&

Luke, Eva and Dallis exited the Hospital Wing, going in search of Draco. They wanted to make sure that he was okay. Ron and Harry had promised to stay put until someone else came to sit with Hermione. No one wanted Hermione to be alone at any point. If she woke up, they didn't want it to be to an empty room. Someone had to be there. There had to be someone to let her know that they all cared and that they were happy that she was back.

"Guys, you know that we have no say in what happens right?" Dallas questioned them, as he stretched his arms up over his head.

"What do you mean, we have no say?" Luke looked at him accusingly.

"I mean exactly what I say Luke. We can not give up hope but from this point on it's fully Hermione's choice. She can come back to us or she run away and never return" Dallas looked straight into Luke's eyes.

"Who says? We live in a world of witches and wizards, yet we cant bring her back to us, without her making the decision. Explain to me how in the hell that makes sense"

"Luke settle down" Eva tried to calm her brother.

"You know what Eva? No, I won't calm down. Your boyfriend over here just basically told me that we have to let Hermione make the choice to die. I refuse to let her die without doing everything on God's green earth to bring her back" Luke glared at Eva.

"Luke, that's not what I said and you know it. I just said that we have to let her make the choice. In fact, I believe I told you that we also cant give up hope. Hermione loves us all and there is a much stronger chance that she will come back to us then there is that she will leave us forever" Dallas turned to face Luke.

"I wont do it! I wont let her die. I love her goddammit. Don't you understand that? She's my life. Life without her would be like life without Eva. They make up my other half. Without the two of them there, I don't know what to do"

Dallas looked at him for a second, then shook his head. He started speaking in a whisper again. "Laurthian, I know how that feels. That's like me losing Draco and Eva. They make up my other half, okay? One of them losing Mia is like one of them losing a part of the other half of themselves. We're all entwined in that way. There is two people that help make up all of our other halves. Losing one creates a chain reaction. Losing Hermione would destroy each and everyone of us. Do you understand that?" Dallas challenged Luke with his gaze before continuing. "Now do you get why none of us can lose Hermione?"

Luke broke the gaze with Dallas. He couldn't look him in the eyes anymore. Everything he said was just so true. No matter how hard he prayed each night for it to be false, it was now and forever true.

"Cade, what the hell am I supposed to do if she leaves? Answer that for me. I understand you but now you have to understand me. You know how I feel about her. You know that I love her as more than just my sister"

A silence settled itself around the three as they just stood there.

"Guys. . . " Eva whispered when she saw Dallas get ready to say something else to Luke.

"Wait, I just want to. . . "

"Dallas" she commanded in a low whisper again.

"Eva, I want to hear what. . ."

"Luke" she gave him a warning. Both boys attention now on her she motioned through the open portrait hole. Neither had noticed that they had reached it or that she had opened it but they gasped silently as their eyes fell upon what she was motioning to.

Draco Malfoy was on the floor, his back leaned against the couch. He held something in his hand. It was what appeared to be a dagger, but that's not what caught their eye.

For the first time in history, an actual human being witnessed something they didn't think was possible.

__

Draco Malfoy was crying

&&&

__

Hey all

Was this quick enough for you? I got home after school and got hit with a really good idea. So I started typing, and while, yes, it is short, I though that this was the perfect place to end it. And I almost sent it without adding in anything to do with Hermione. So that part was added in last.

I hope you all like it!!

Hugs and Kisses

Pure Mudblood

****

Email updates are available upon request and providing you leave all your information!


	16. Chapter 16

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books. 

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Luke broke the gaze with Dallis. He couldn't look him in the eyes anymore. Everything he said was just so true. No matter how hard he prayed each night for it to be false, it was now and forever true.

"Cade, what the hell am I supposed to do if she leaves? Answer that for me. I understand you but now you have to understand me. You know how I feel about her. You know that I love her as more than just my sister"

A silence settled itself around the three as they just stood there.

"Guys. . . " Eva whispered when she saw Dallas get ready to say something else to Luke.

"Wait, I just want to. . . "

"Dallis" she commanded in a low whisper again.

"Eva, I want to hear what. . ."

"Luke" she gave him a warning. Both boys attention now on her she motioned through the open portrait hole. Neither had noticed that they had reached it or that she had opened it but they gasped silently as their eyes fell upon what she was motioning to.

Draco Malfoy was on the floor, his back leaned against the couch. He held something in his hand. It was what appeared to be a dagger, but that's not what caught their eye.

For the first time in history, an actual human being witnessed something they didn't think was possible.

****

Draco Malfoy was crying

&&&&

Draco looked at the blade in his hand and the blood trickling down in arm. His face felt so warm as the tears trailed down his normally pale cheeks. He couldn't quite recall what, exactly, had brought on the tears.

Later, he would not even be able to recall them stopping at all. Nor would he be have the memories of what all took place in the following few minutes.

At this exact moment though, he didn't care about any of that. All that was on his mind, is what had resided there for days now. There was a girl laying in a hospital bed, close to death and she's what tormented his mind right at that very moment. This girl that he loved yet hated at the same time.

How could he have betrayed her? He broke the promise he made to her and he couldn't take it back.

&&&

Eva, Luke and Dallis stood and observed the scene before them.

Why on earth was Draco Malfoy crying? What had caused this cold-hearted jerk to lose control? And what was he holding in his hand?

Eva walked in the room causally, not wanting to surprise him. She touched his shoulder lightly.

"Draco?" she whispered

His eyes flew up and met hers. "What are you doing here? Who's with Hermione?"

"Don't worry, Harry and Ron promised to stay there while we came to check on you" she told him, her voice a soothing tone.

He nodded mutely and dropped his eyes back down.

Eva glanced down to see what he held in his hand and noticed a blade. A blade with blood on it. She had not noticed it before, but now the free-flowing blood was rather apparent to her.

"Oh my god" she breathed

"Eva, is there something wrong? Did you finally clue into the fact that I have imperfections?" Draco drawled, distain and sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Eva kneeled in front of him and reached for the blade. "Draco, give me the blade."

Draco let out little laugh. "Why? So you can use it as black mail against me? I don't think so. Besides, why should it matter if I die or not? I mean, my reason for living is currently dying on a hospital bed and she's been gone so long that I don't think she will come back to us, she'll give up just like she does with everything else. Take the easy road."

"You don't know that. She is so strong and powerful. So much confidence in everything she does. Who can say that she wont come back to us?"

"She's weak. So weak. Too many emotions sit inside her, stewing. She wont get back at anyone for anything they do to her. Jesus, she refuses to even tell anyone about her problems. I bet you one hundred galleons, though, that I know more about her than you do. Not from speaking to her, or living around her, just from being the same way myself" He brought his gaze briefly away from the blade and met her gaze.

"Your eyes, they are nothing in comparison to hers. Nothing compares to her" The tears still streamed down his cheeks, but no one in the room noticed.

Luke looked at Draco a mixture of horror and sadness in his face. Dallas looked between the three, trying to decide who would be the first one to snap.

"Draco, please, just give me the blade. We already have one best friend in the hospital, we don't need two" Eva pleaded with him.

"You want the blade that bad? Fine" He lifted his arm and threw it sideways across the room. It traveled right down the middle of the gap between Dallas and Luke, as both watched in horror. The knife cut into the wall and stuck there. Draco shrugged and looked at Eva, "Not bad. Now go get it if you really want it that bad. I've betrayed the trust of enough people in my life, one more isn't going to make a difference"

Eva got up off the floor and gracefully walked over to the wall. As she reached to pull it out, she saw something that she wished wasn't there.

On the handle of the otherwise plain knife, two letters were carved. She started to shake uncontrollably.

"Surprised Cade? Did the reality of it all finally hit you?" Draco glared at her. "So ignorant. Even of someone you claim as your best friend. Yet, even after she tells you something or you hear something accidentally, you're so trusting of her that you think that she would just stop. Stupid. Really, that's all you guys amount to"

He shook his head, got up and stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door behind him.

&&&&

Something started to creep over Hermione as she stared it the darkness. She started to feel cold, tired and sad. Only thing was, this was the first real feeling she had had in a long time.

This wasn't right though. Something just didn't fit. It didn't feel like her emotions. She felt like she was living someone else's emotions, while she floated in the middle of the true reality and her own reality.

Hermione was sure that she would collapse if this didn't go away soon. Only problem, she had nothing to collapse on to. It didn't go away though. In fact, everything just seemed to get worse. Anger began to take over the sadness and she could feel it getting closer and closer to her heart.

A door slammed open and yelling filled the room.

"Get the hell out of here you two. I have something to say to her" Draco yelled at Harry and Ron, who quickly obliged, not really wanting to fight with him with Hermione right next to them.

Draco looked down at the white face of Hermione. She had looked angelic, but now all he saw when he looked at her was a quitter. She was willing to rid herself of the world without so much as a thought about them. Well, he had full intentions of changing that frame of mind.

"Get up you bitch. You're fine and you know it. Hermione Granger, you have been nothing but fine for the last three years. You just sit around and wallow in self pity" he raged at her. "I went through the same thing as you and do you see me sitting around, just trying to block out the world? No, because I got over it. I got to the point of just accepting that it would happen every time I went home and would continue to be that way until I was perfect enough for my father or my father was dead, whichever came first."

He ran a hand through his hair, which hung loose around his face. He hadn't noticed that Eva, Luke and Dallas had followed him. Or that Harry and Ron had never actually left the wing. You think that he might of noticed that most every student that was passing by had stopped at the sound of yelling and he now attracted half the school. No, all he could see was the girl laying in front of him.

&&&_**Lie here**_

_**Forget the world outside**_

_**All that matters**_

_**Is that you come in with the tide**_

&&&

"Now listen and listen good. Get your ass out of that bed now and come back into the real world. Enter a reality that you have not lived in for a long time. Come back to a place where you are truly happy. Just come back to us. Forget your father and your mother and anyone you know has hurt you to a point where you became a hollow shell of someone who was once Mia Granger. If you come back, there will be no casualties in this inner war, but if you leave me forever, just know that you'll not only kill yourself, you will kill the soul of anyone who even remotely cares about you" Draco had tears rolling down his cheeks again. Tears of sadness, anger and of things left unsaid for too long.

&&&

****

Because of you

I died years away

Stay away from the world

And you'll not be the one to pay

&&&

"Hermione Granger, just please, come back to us. Come back to me" Draco dropped his voice down to a faint whisper.

"Hermione, Mia, just please, open your eyes and tell me you are going to be okay. I love you too much to let you go for good" Draco leaned over and placed a small kiss on her forehead.

&&&

****

I promise you

To make you stay there

Never spoken words

Might actually make you care

&&&

Hermione heard him, heard every word he said. She wanted so bad to go to him. To let him know that she didn't want to go but also to let him know, she really didn't want to stay.

She felt something begin to pull at her, but she struggled with it. She hadn't made her final decision yet. Not in her head or in her heart.

&&&

****

Please come closer

Push me farther

Just remember my love

With each day spent without my father

&&&

Draco looked at her, praying she had heard it all and that she would make the right decision.

Hermione felt warmness start to replace the cold as her soul settled in its new home.

The crowd watched the scene in front of them intently. Each and everyone of them wanted to know what he whispered to her. Most of all, they wanted to know if what Draco said worked.

&&&

****

You want what you got

I want what didn't leave

Prayers go out

Maybe there wasn't time to grieve

&&&

Draco watched her eyes, waiting to see those brown orbs reappear…

_…and that's exactly what they did._

&&&

_Hey guys_

_I hope that this chapter was completely worth the wait! I came up with the idea at work and just went with it. I have no idea when the next chapter will be coming out but I do hope that its soon_

_The bolded is a poem of mine. I have no name for it yet, but I will let you know_

_And a huge thanks to A) my beta and b) all of my ever patient readers. I love you all!!_

_L&H  
Pure Mudblood_


	17. Chapter 17

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 17

Dedication: To all my past, present and future readers and reviews, thank you for your support and amazing amounts of patience!

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books. 

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:

Hermione heard him, heard every word he said. She wanted so bad to go to him. To let him know that she didn't want to go but also to let him know, she really didn't want to stay.

She felt something begin to pull at her, but she struggled with it. She hadn't made her final decision yet. Not in her head or in her heart.

Draco looked at her, praying she had heard it all and that she would make the right decision.

Hermione felt warmness start to replace the cold as her soul settled in its new home.

The crowd watched the scene in front of them intently. Each and everyone of them wanted to know what he whispered to her. Most of all, they wanted to know if what Draco said worked.

Draco watched her eyes, waiting to see those brown orbs reappear…

…and that's exactly what they did.

&&&

Hermione starred up into the beautiful grey pools that were Draco's eyes. They had grown warm and soft and they were wide with shock.

"You came back" he whispered.

"Yeah, I guess I did" she quickly found out just how much it hurt to talk, but she gave him a small smile anyway.

"I'm glad Mia" Draco was truly at a loss for words. He hadn't thought that that would actually ever work. It had been a last resort but it had worked.

"Do you need anything?" his voice was gentle, still not aware of all the people standing behind him.

She nodded silently. He sent her a questioning glance, asking what it was.

"To go home"

&&&&

Hermione leaned against the shower. She knew that right on the other side of the door, a whole real world was waiting for her. Draco was out there, waiting a the couch just so he could walk her to breakfast. He was waiting out there. Waiting for _her._

She had yet to set foot out side of her common room since returning to it. She hid in her little confined space of a room, writing.

It had been three weeks, two days, and eleven hours since she had seen what reality looked like. What she about it though didn't make her want to rejoin it any time soon.

Hermione was being force to rejoin society though. Her work was completely caught up, what else could she do while the others were in class? Her friends had finally got her to agree to face the entire student body.

After three full books of poems, forty-two assignments and twenty-one novels she was being thrown back out into the real world. As Luke had said:

"This is to get you to open your eyes to the good in the world once again. The see that for every Ryan Granger there are ten Dumbledores"

Or as Eva had put it:

"It's time for you to get off your ass and end this state of self-doubt. If you continue to think that you're filth, the world will think you're filth. Open up your eyes and see that you're gold, and I guarantee that people will see you in all your radiance"

And they were right.

&&&

Hermione looked over the Great Hall as she stepped into it. It felt as if every eye in the hall was turned to her. Truth be told, every eye in the hall was turned to her.

She saw Harry and Ron looking her way, sending gentle smiles. Hermione nodded at them. She wasn't yet ready to accept their friendship back into her life. She would accept that they were acquaintances. Baby steps.

Her eyes traveled further over the faces and her eyes landed on Matt. The last time she had talked to him was the confrontation they had had. That felt like years ago now. The pregnancy ran through her mind, and how the loss of her child had affected her. She may never be okay with that, but it was time to let it go. Start to leave the past in the past.

Matt starred at her in shock. A single scar ran down her face, the first one she had ever received from Ryan. For the first time in years she had decided against covering up all her scars. They were a part of her and a part of her life. If she was going to let the world see her, they were going to see all of her.

She watched as Matt's eyes travelled down to where Draco held her hand and how angry he seemed to be. After all, she had once said she would never again trust another Slytherin.

Draco saw Hermione take a deep breath as she started to walk over to the Slytherin table. She took a seat right in the middle of them all, showing no real fear. Draco sat next to her with Luke and Dallas on his other side and Eva sitting on Mia's right.

Hermione could still feel eyes on her and she let out a long, silent breath. 'Just keep eating' she thought.

Finally chatter started to take over the Great Hall. Just mindless chit-chat about absolutely nothing. That was the way it should be in the world of all these teenagers.

&&&

One step at a time, and one day, Hermione would be just like them. Without a care in the world other then friends and school.

Hermione looked around at the walls of the hidden room. At all the poems. It was almost full, only half a wall left. But it was time for a change.

She took out her wand and brought all the poems down, stacked in order of where they were originally posted. The she went to work, conjuring supplies, designing, doing what she thought fit the room best.

The others were in Hogsmead, getting a much needed break from the school. They had been bugging her to come with them for weeks, but she had decided to stay behind. She wanted some true alone time. They were due back soon though, and she just hoped she would have time to finish her project.

She sorted through the pile of poems, reading some, posting others, just deciding what would work best where. How long she stood there, going though the piles was a complete mystery to everyone. All she knew was that she finished with about a minute to spar.

Each wall had a different theme. Symbolizing something from the last couple of years.

The first wall was completely black. Just a night darkness with poems written everywhere. Every poem that was chosen was written on the wall in white paint, causing a striking contrast that reeked havoc with your mind.

Wall number two was slate grey and gold. There were pictures scattered all over the wall, ones from when Harry and Ron were her best friends in the fifth year, to pictures taken only weeks before Ryan had showed up again. Each had a story behind it, and a poem framed and hung beside it telling that story.

The third one, directly across from the first one, was her favourite. Colours all swirled into a centre of gold and silver. Each poem that was posted here was from the last year and a half, mostly from the time of losing the baby to just before she ended up in the hospital. All of them were on a different colour of paper, just adding to the confusion that was on the wall. The confusion that had been her life.

The fourth and final wall was a beautiful silver colour. Silver, her colour to symbolize a new beginning. A gold line was drawn down the middle, and a poem resided on it's right side, in a bold black paint.

****

A Dream That Is...

For many years and showers of tears you stuck by me.

Golden hair like tiny strings of gold shimmering in the sun.

Sky blue eyes that soar across the ocean on an eagle's wings.

Vivid dreams a float on drifting clouds.

That gracefully pass along the sky.

Like waves lapping against the shore.

One of those dreams was me and I floated down to you.

Because God knew you were the perfect mother for me.

You showed the way every day with a tiny hint or smile.

**(A/N: **Poem courtesy of one of my best friends, Stormy Angel Sky. Look to the bottom for more information)

On the left was a picture that had recently been taken of the five of them. In the stupidest positions they could think of. They had been having an absolutely killer time, and Collin came by and snapped a picture of them, without any of their knowledge. The first that they heard about was when the found a picture slid in with a book he had borrowed from Hermione for some research. Hermione had blown the picture up and magic-ed it onto the wall, for the world to see.

As she stood back and admired all the work she heard footsteps and gasps behind her as the others entered.

She spun to see Luke, Dallis and Eva awestruck and Draco standing there with a small smile on his face, and slight surprise in his eyes.

"So, what do you guys think?"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Hey Guys

Finally, ITS HERE!

Sorry for the absolutely horrendous wait! I was out of inspiration for this, as my life has basically either completely sucked or has been absolutely amazing for the last several months. I cant write when I'm in extreme moods. But here you go, heres your chapter! I hope you all love it.

Oh, and bear with all the spelling mistakes, I didn't bother getting it betaed beause I figured you guys wanted it soon, was I right?

I thank _Stormy Angel Sky__ for the use of her poem here. She's an absolutely amazing poet and she provided me with the inspiration to finally finish! Thanks E! _

And to all my reviewers and faithful readers, thank you for your patience! I appreciate it more then you know. And keep nudging me to get more done, it usually works! Also, for readers of Daddy, I Love You, I should have a chapter coming again soon, it's almost done! Hopefully this weekend or sometime in the next week.

Love you all

Pure Mudblood

****

Email Alerts From Me Personally Are Available. Please, leave you're email address with me, but with spaces or in stead of make it dotcom.

ie: iamsmart gmail . Com

Please, leave you're email address with me, but with spaces or in stead of make it dotcom.

iamsmart (at) gmail (dot) com

OR

Iamsmartatgmaildotcom

Thanks again to you all!

Please, leave you're email address with me, but with spaces or in stead of make it dotcom. 


	18. Chapter 18

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 18

Dedication: To all my past, present and future readers and reviews, thank you for your support and amazing amounts of patience!

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books. 

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:'

On the left was a picture that had recently been taken of the five of them. In the stupidest positions they could think of. They had been having an absolutely killer time, and Collin came by and snapped a picture of them, without any of their knowledge. The first that they heard about was when the found a picture slid in with a book he had borrowed from Hermione for some research. Hermione had blown the picture up and magic-ed it onto the wall, for the world to see.

As she stood back and admired all the work she heard footsteps and gasps behind her as the others entered.

She spun to see Luke, Dallis and Eva awestruck and Draco standing there with a small smile on his face, and slight surprise in his eyes.

"So, what do you guys think?"

------------------------

Draco sucked in a deep breath as he looked around the room. It was beautiful. Everything had such symbolism behind it. There was even a picture from a time that he and Hermione had gotten into a fight years earlier. From a time where Hermione's biggest worry was getting an A on the next potions assignment. Oh, how he missed that innocence.

Yes, he missed little innocent Hermione Granger, the one he used to spend hours fighting with over things that he couldn't even remember now. The one who was always with Potter and Weasly AN: That looks wrong. . . Someone please help me fix it, helping them with their homework or going on one harebrained adventure or another.

The Hermione that stood before him now was nothing like that Hermione. This Hermione was breathtakingly gorgeous, but all that innocence was gone. Her biggest worry now was figuring out where she was going to live when Hogwarts was done, how she was going to get rid of Matt, who had appeared to be stalking her for the last few weeks. Most importantly, how she was going to let go of her complete past without letting the people that were contained within it go at the same time.

This scared Draco more then anything. The fact that there was a chance, however slim, that Hermione would let everything that had to do with Hogwarts go on the day of Graduation. The thought that he could ever lose Hermione absolutely terrified him.

--------------------

Hermione watched her friends closely, trying to gage their reactions. Eva had a few tears creating a little river down her cheeks. Luke's mouth hung opened as he spun around in slow circles and Dallis was seated on the couch, just staring at the wall in front of him. Draco stood there with a. . . well, she would have to say serene look but that wasn't possible. Draco Malfoy looking serene? Who ever would've thought? But that's exactly what it looked like.

She smiled to herself. Maybe, just maybe, they liked her work. Glancing around at the walls and then down at the pile of paper that sat on the floor, she decided that now was the time to leave them to their peace. She had somewhere else to be anyway.

Picking up the paper, she quietly departed the room, leaving them in their silent state and walking down the corridor to the Head commons. Harry and Ron would be waiting there for her, just like she had asked them to be. One of the only things she had left to fix or clear up with anyone. She had to apologize to them for being the way she had been with them, though she still saw that it was partially their fault. On one hand, they had been so wrapped in themselves they had never noticed that she was changing. On the other hand, she had not actually flat out talked to them about anything that was going on until their fight in the hall way. She owed them an explanation.

It wasn't only them that she owed an explanation, but she figured she would start with the easiest and finish with the hardest. That way she could build up to what she had to tell Luke, Eva and Dallis. Draco knew most of it already. She had told him while they had had a couple days together after she got on of the hospital. She felt kind of guilty about that actually. He hadn't slept the entire time she had been unconscious, so Dumbledore had granted him three days to laze around and relax before he started classes again.

It was time to come completely clean to everyone about her past. So, if she started with Harry and Ron, who knew the least, maybe telling the others would be easier. The one that she was truly terrified to tell was Luke though. He had always been so near when she was in pain and she had always pushed him the farthest away. She was scared to let him near because he might learn how to read what she was feeling. He might have found out what was going on in her life at the time.

No more hiding from the world for Hermione though. She was going to tell her story and make sure it was heard. She had talked to Dumbledore about returning each year to talk to the students about certain aspects of what she was going through and that anyone there going through the same things was not alone. In fact, she planned to trained to become a councillor while she was in school to become a teacher at the school.

She finally reached the portrait and spoke the password to it. "Endless Pain". It seemed so long ago that they had set that, but it really only been just under four months. Four months. It wasn't even Christmas and already she could see that she was starting to change.

And though it may sound like she was all cured and ready for anything, she wasn't. She was not ready to face Matt again any time soon. She was not ready to attend the Christmas dance that Dumbledore had had them plan. Thee was no way she was ready to present every student in Hogwarts with a Christmas gift on the last day of classes. This was the big surprise that Dumbledore had been planning at their first meeting. Draco and Hermione would walk around during classes, and pass each student their gift and wish them a 'Happy Christmas' then move on to the next student. All those people that cast questioning looks on her whenever she walked the corridors would be watching her that day. It scared her to think that they might be able to read her and see that the whole story of her injuries was a lie. As far as they all knew, she had fallen off a broomstick while she and Draco had been on a date. They had been sitting idle, and she lost her balance while they were about 250 feet in the air and crashed to the ground before Draco could catch her. Of course, no one believed that. Draco, a Seeker, wasn't able to catch Hermione, someone at least a hundred times bigger then a snitch.

Hermione stepped through the portrait hole only to see that it was decorated all Christmassy. It hadn't been that way when she had left earlier the morning but it was so beautiful that she wouldn't even dream of complaining. Harry and Ron were sitting in the arm chairs in front of the fire playing cards, almost like they had been in and out of this place all year.

"Hey guys" she greeted as she walked over to them.

"Afternoon Hermione" Ron answered back, pretending to be all formal and nice.

"How are you guys today?"

"We're…fine, confused as to why we're here, but fine just the same" Harry replied as he picked up the cards.

"I. . . We. . . I'm sorry you guys. Sorry for everything I've put you through for the last few years. For lying to you, for snapping at you, for pretending everything was ok. Most importantly, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I. . ." she was cut off by the sound of Harry's voice.

"Hermione we're sorry. We never even noticed a single little change in you besides your wardrobe. That in itself should've been a huge tip of, but we still didn't clue in. I think that the thought of you changing from being our Hermione, the one that we met on the train that first day of school."

Hermione starred at Harry, and then shifted her gaze to Ron who was nodding in agreement with what Harry had said. She hadn't honestly expected then to crack that fast. She had expected. . . Well, she was sure what she had expected, but it certainly was not this.

"Harry. . . Ron. . .thank you. I needed to hear that but I have a few thing to tell you. . ." and she recounted everything that had happened since the end of their fourth year. The abuse from her father, the way she had used alcohol and cutting as outlet, the pregnancy and her suicide attempt. Then, or course, she had to finish off with the happy note. She had survived through until her eighteenth birthday. Granted, she had been unconscious for it, but still, she had survived.

The her surprise, Harry and Ron sat through the entire story, not interrupting once. In essence, it made everything a lot easier for her. She was able to start and not falter from her course. Finally, she finished her story and waited for their reactions.

Ron gaped at her as she concluded and the first thing out of his mouth was "Pregnant? Slytherin? That bastard!"

Harry's reaction was a little less dramatic and much more understanding. "I wish you would've too, but I couldn't tell anyone at the time. I didn't even want to admit that anything had happened to myself, let alone to you guys."

"But you felt you could tell Malfoy?" Ron fumed. She groaned inwardly, She knew she should've left that little bit out.

"Listen, I was lost, confused and alone. The first person that let me cry on their shoulder got to hear the entire story first. In retrospect, I'm glad that that person happened to be Draco Malfoy. He was the only person at the time who could've possibly been trusted with the information. The only one who would not hold it against me because he had no reason too."

And so it continued for the next three hours. Harry and Ron spit back almost every detail of her story in the form of a question and made her re-explain everything.

Finally, all the questions had been asked and all the explanations had been explained. Glancing at the clock Hermione realizes that dinner was half over and she realized just how hungry she was.

"Guys, come on, I can hear some chicken calling my name" she beckoned to them to follow her as she walked out the portrait hole and down the corridors.

Upon reaching the Great Hall she did not sit with them, despite their incessant asking. No, she didn't feel at home among the Gryffindors anymore. They had shunned her out of their inner circles when she had broke off her friendships with Harry and Ron. Even now, she did not feel at home among them. The people that she felt at home with were sitting three tables away; at the Slytherin table. It wad there that she still felt accepted, even if it wasn't by all.

She walked over to the table and sat herself down in-between Luke and Draco. They were engaged in a conversation about the Quidditch match coming up after Christmas. Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Slytherin was in the lead for the year of all the houses for house points right now. And from the sounds of it, they fully intended to keep it that way.

Hermione just sat listen to her friends talk amongst the selves, helping herself to a dinner roll. This was where she belonged now. Where she had belonged for a while.

**To Be Continued... **

I'm sorry for the horrendos wait guys! I didnt know how to finish the chapter. By the time I figured it out I decided to extend it into two chapters to make for more updates.

What's left:

Chapter 19 or 18 part 2  
Epilogue chapter 20

That's it. That's all! I'm almost done! It makes me sad!

I love you all and thank you for the patience, it was SO appreciated!  
**  
Until next time  
Pure Mudblood**


	19. Chapter 19

****

Crimson Rain Drops

Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.

I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books. 

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

**__**

Previously:'

Finally, all the questions had been asked and all the explanations had been explained. Glancing at the clock Hermione realizes that dinner was half over and she realized just how hungry she was.

"Guys, come on, I can hear some chicken calling my name" she beckoned to them to follow her as she walked out the portrait hole and down the corridors.

Upon reaching the Great Hall she did not sit with them, despite their incessant asking. No, she didn't feel at home among the Gryffindors anymore. They had shunned her out of their inner circles when she had broke off her friendships with Harry and Ron. Even now, she did not feel at home among them. The people that she felt at home with were sitting three tables away; at the Slytherin table. It wad there that she still felt accepted, even if it wasn't by all.

She walked over to the table and sat herself down in-between Luke and Draco. They were engaged in a conversation about the Quidditch match coming up after Christmas. Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Slytherin was in the lead for the year of all the houses for house points right now. And from the sounds of it, they fully intended to keep it that way.

Hermione just sat listen to her friends talk amongst the selves, helping herself to a dinner roll. This was where she belonged now. Where she had belonged for a while.

&&&

After dinner, Hermione found herself sitting in the Head Common Room, next to Draco on the green couch. While this seemed like a small detail, it wasn't. Not only was she not sitting with Luke, like she always did, she was sitting with Draco's arms wrapped securely around her. The other three were watching her, them, from the adjacent couch. They were waiting for one of them to start telling their stories. Draco had not intended to have much involvement in tonight's meeting, but Eva had been adamant that he explain himself. That he explain his scars, and tell then his story.

Hermione looking into the eyes of the one holding her, questioning. Her nodded to her, giving her the right to start whenever she wished. She exhaled the breath she had not even realised she was holding, and then she started.

"As you know already, I was born into a loving home with two loving parents, both of whom were dentists. For thirteen years, it was a wonderful life to lead/ I didn't think it could get much better. Apparently, I was right. It _couldn't_ get any better. At home. I'm not exactly sure what happened to them, but somewhere between the summer after third year and the summer after fourth year, both Ryan and Teresa Granger when from loving parents, to drunk, angry people whose names happened to be on my birth certificate. They came home drunk every night, bet me almost every night for three straight summers. Any money we may have had saved was long gone. My Hogwarts money came from a vault I had opened by myself, and had been storing money in each year since the beginning of Hogwarts. I removed most of the money from the family vault and put it in my own, not that they ever noticed."

Hermione stopped for a moment, and Draco tightened his grip on her slightly, pulling her in closer. She picked up one of the objects that was beside her. "This," he held it up, "was my refuge for fourth year. My journal. Everything went in it. All in the form of poems. Many of which, you have already seen. I hoped that things would improve in the summer after fifth year, but they got worse instead. The beatings lasted longer, causing more and more scars. That's when I pick this up for the first time." She gently unwrapped her blade. "This became my new refuge. This became my release. It was almost like instinct. I always knew how far I could go without causing any permanent damage, besides a simple scar that I could later remove. It was around the same time that I picked up my first alcoholic beverage. One would think that I would never touch the stuff, as it had been what started this whole mess in the first place."

Hermione paused again, biting her lip, nervously looking into the faces of those across from her. They were looking at her intently, waiting for her to continue, not willing to interrupt her flow, almost as if afraid she would stop the story.

"I hid the cutting, obviously, but I also hid the drinking. While others around me experiments, I still masqueraded as perfect, know-it-all, Hermione Granger. Even after I met you two," she gestured to Eva and Luke, "I hid it. You didn't think I drank until our second day this year. Thought I had never touched it. That I hated it. It was also in sixth year that I turned to another comfort. That's where Matthew Betrador entered the picture. I was at a party one weekend, where people would be too drunk to remember I was there. Hell, I barely even remember being there. I know I was though, because the next morning I woke up naked in the arms of a Slytherin. I lost my virginity to someone I had barely ever spoken to, and I didn't even remember it. Needles to say, Matt and I started dating not long after, though no one knew about it. Then, about to months later, at the very tail end of April, I went into Madame Pomfrey to get some flu potion. I had been throwing up for three days straight. As Madame Pomfrey is checking me over to make sure everything else was alright, I got a pretty big shock. She informed me that I was pregnant. I'm still not sure how I really felt about the news. Not overly happy, that's for sure. I mean, I was 17 and pregnant. I told Matt about it, and he seemed ok with it. Seemed like it wasn't a big deal to him." A/N: Refer to the notes at the end about the age mix-up just above. There's a reason for it, I swear! Or, I hope at least

Hermione had to stop to steady her voice as it began to tremble. It didn't matter that they already knew this part. It was still hard to talk about. More then likely, it would always be hard to talk about. Draco pulled her in closer still as she began again. "On Saturday, May 17, I lost the baby, and part of what was left of my soul went with it. As I went to find Matt and tell him, I found him in bed with someone else. I found out that night that he had been cheating on me the entire time. I yelled, and screamed and threw anything I could get my hands on at him. As the girl ran out, I punched her. I still cant remember her face, though I'm sure she remembers mine. Then I told him about the baby, before turning my back on him forever. Somewhere between there and the Gryffindor common room, I collapsed in tears. I had lost so much in such a short period of time. I remember feeling someone sit next to me, pull me into a hug and ask me what was wrong. I didn't even realize it was Draco until my tears dried up and I pulled myself away from the embrace. I thanked him, went back to my dorm and slept like a baby for the first time in months."

"I returned to my residence this summer, more broken then I had been when I had left. The summer went the same as the two previous. Except, this time, I just ignored Harry and Ron completely. The beginning of this year was more eventful then most. I let something else see me drink. I told off Harry and Ron, blaming them completely for something that was partially my fault. When I went for my blade that night, Draco caught me. That's why he made you all leave so quickly." Eva, Draco and Luke still kept their faces straight, just listening intently. "He then came back to me, cleaned me up and dint hold it against me. That day I found out that he cut too. I had believed for years that I was the only one, as stupid as that sounds." She stopped and looked up at Draco. It was his turn. This was the point where the two stories converged.

Draco began to tell his story for the first time. "My story is much the same as hers. Except, my father started when I was about five and he had the advantage of magic on his side. He gave me scars that no magic could ever remove. When I was about fourteen, I picked up my blade," he held his knife up for the others to see. "I started drinking when I was 13. I hardened my heart, refusing to ever let anyone in. I did my school work, keeping my marks as high and perfect as possible. I kept Crabbe and Goyle around as my bodyguards for about five years, until I was strong enough to defend myself. Basically, I just kept to myself. Last year, when I found Hermione on the ground in the middle of a corridor, I offered her my shoulder to cry on. I don't know why, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Then, at the beginning of this year, "Mudblood Granger" peaked my interest. She was the first person I had ever come across who I couldn't read like a book. So I started hanging out with you guys more. At the same time, I started to fall in love without even knowing it."

Draco stopped, and handed the story back to Hermione. This was solely her part to tell. "I finally decided that I had had enough of the life I was leading. But instead of trying to change it, I decided to just through it all away. I downed two full bottles of pills and waited. I sat on my bed and starred at the note I had writing, at the names mentioned, and it hit me what, exactly I was trying to do. I ran to the bathroom and forced myself to start throwing up. Draco came in, and held my hair back and when I was finished, he once again offered his shoulder for me to cry on. And again, he let me cry and cry, untl my tears ran dry and my eyelids fell shut. He put me to bed that night. The next morning, he wakes me up with an ultimatum: I give everything up, and he wouldn't tell a soul or I keep treading my self-destructive path, and he would tell the whole world. Obviously, I gave it all up. But I made him give it up to. His blade, I mean. We bound ourselves to one another, so that we couldn't go back on our word. Then, Ryan showed up."

Again, the story shifted to Draco. "While Hermione was in the Hospital Wing, the bond was broken. You guys found me one night, in the worst shape I have ever been it. Hermione's blade was in my hand, having been the one I chose to do the damage. I chose it because I blamed her for driving me to it. That wasn't true though. Stress, frustration and most of all, fear, had put me in that position. Fear of losing the one thing that I truly, with all my heart, loved," he took a deep breath, before concluding. "I believe, that you guys know the rest."

Hermione and Draco starred at the three. Eva sat there, rocking slightly in her position. Dallis was staring straight ahead, looking as if he was still shifting through the information still. Luke was a different story though. Luke had been sitting stoke still, then he started to tremble and shake.

He was the first to speak. "You. . .you. . . You almost take your life and don't feel the need to tell us? To tell your best friends?" He kept his voice even, but his eyes were flashing.

Hermione looked him dead in the eye, though there was a hint of fear in her eyes. "Luke, I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt you again. Remember what happened when you found out about Matt? About my unborn child? I couldn't bear that happening again. That anger, that disappointment. I didn't want to see what I see now. You're one of my closest friends. My best friend. The hurt that I see now is something that I never, ever wanted to see again."

Eva had reached for the note book and was reading the marked page. Hermione's suicide note. She began to read it out loud, cutting Luke off when he went to speak again.

"Why did I do this? Why did I decide that this was it? This was the end? Because in my mind it is. I'm not going any farther and I don't want to. Its not worth it. There's too much bull shit to deal with. You people think…." she read it with a clear voice, keeping the tears threatening to fall from falling. She paused right before the portion that was meant for Luke. "_Luke, I owe you my world. I love you so much and I thank whoever put you in my path…"_

she read it with a clear voice, keeping the tears threatening to fall from falling. She paused right before the portion that was meant for Luke. " 

Hermione was staring at her hands, not willing to meet anyone's eyes. She had been so stupid. So ignorant. She had really thought she had been doing the right thing. But as she had starred at the names of those she claimed to love and who loved her, and thought of what she was going to do to them, she had backtracked. She had panicked, and done the first thing she had thought of. Unknowingly, her friends had saved her life.

Luke watched Hermione as her eyes fell, almost in shame. He had gotten mad at her, again. For something that he should've just been there for. Something he should've helped prevent in the first place. He walked over to her when the reading was done and wrapped his arms around her.

Luke loved this girl. Loved her with everything he had. He wanted her to be solely his, and yet, when he had seen her in Draco's arms, it has just looked so right. Now he could be nothing more then what she wanted. Her best friend.

He was soon followed by Eva and Dallis, and then Draco. The five stood, tears rolling down their cheeks, without realizing it. They were no longer tears of sadness though. They were tears of joy.

All five of them were going to step into the future together. Together, they would ward off harm and welcome joy and comfort.

Luke Laurthian was traveling an unknown path, but he hoped it would have a happy ending. Eva Laurthian and Dallis Cade, well, they would be just fine. Sure, no one knew if they would be together forever, but they hoped and prayed they would be. After all, they had been able to survive through a year of Hermione and her mannerisms. That seemed like the hardest task they would ever have to endure. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were not perfect, nor would there ever be. They would have some scars for the rest of their lives. Reminders of their past, and their reasons for striding into the future.

&&&

That's it…almost. That's the end of the story. I'm going to do an epilogue, strictly for the purposes of telling you what will happen in the lives of my lovely five. And typing up any loose ends I may come across. But before I post that, I'm taking this week to go back an edit everything one last time, just so I know that this story is to the highest perfect it can be while I still keep it as my story.

I thank all my readers, those you read and reviewed, those you only read, and those who emailed me asking when I would update, kicking my butt into gear. I love you all.

And I'm begging you… please, please, please, if you find something wrong, or have a question, leave it in a review or email me. Any loose ends that you guys find…let me know because I may miss them!

Also, I'm posting the first chapter of my new story tonight it's 1:26 am when I'm finishing this Normally, I would do two, but I want to see the reaction to it before I post another one.

I hope that this has been done to your satisfaction and I hope that you all enjoyed.

For almost the last time with Crimson Rain Drops.

Pure Mudblood


	20. Epilogue

**Crimson Rain Drops**

**Epilogue**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books.**

**Warning:** This is not like a real chapter. It is simply points in time that I feel you need to be told to wrap up my story. Also, there's a few things that I couldn't conclude in the story, so I'm writing a lengthy Authors Note that I hope you all read. I love you all and thanks so much for all your support.

&&&&

Cold as Ice

Hard as Stone

Both believe

They must face this world alone

What happens

When Enemies Meet

All they share; a love of hate

But what they find; they do not seek

&&&&

_Christmas of that Year_

_They sat around the table laughing and just enjoying their last Christmas at Hogwarts. There were seven of them there. Hermione, Draco, Eva, Dallis, Luke, Harry and Ron. No, they weren't all the best of friends, but they all got along well enough and there was no reason for Hermione to split her world in two like she had for so many years._

_Hermione settled with her head on Draco's shoulder and she looked around. Her family had never been in that baby blue house that she grew up with. Her home was never going to be with those two people who had claimed to love her for so long. Her life was now, and forever would be with these six people._

_Draco put an arm around Hermione and hugged her close, whispering 'I love you' in her ear. Hermione smiled a little and sighed. Yes, she was happy. For the first time in years she was truly, unbelievably happy.Little happened between Christmas and Grad. Luke, Eva and Dallis all but moved into the Head Common Room because of the amount of time they spent studying. They studied every day for at least two hours, not including the time they spent on homework, which had more then doubled since the beginning of the year. All five of them were also tutoring fifth years three times a week, helping them prepare for the OWLS._

_The biggest event was the night of grad. Two events took place._

_Number one_

_Hermione and Draco both took their blades and destroyed them. With the help of Dallis, Eva and Luke, the blades were cast into oblivion forever. Finally, both of them were ready to step into the future with nothing left of their past besides their friends and their scars._

_Number Two_

_Draco proposed to Hermione that evening. He got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. I think it goes without saying that she accepted. The ring was a single princess cut diamond. It had been his grandmothers engagement ring._

_They got married on September 7th of that year. A small simple ceremony. Only about 50 guests, most of whom were from Hogwarts. Draco had his mother there as well. Hermione had no family there, but had had Luke give her away._

_Both Draco and Hermione got jobs at the Ministry. Harry and Ron became aurors. Dallis and Eva got married. Dallis was an teacher at the Wizarding school in America. Eva traveled between the two Ministry's, acting as a negotiator on many of the two countries deals. Luke simply traveled. No one was entirely sure what he did. All they knew was that he helped anyone who asked him for it and that everyone walked away with a smile._

_Matt Betrador ended up in Azkaban for the rape of a teen girl the year after they graduated. Needless to say, no one ever saw him again._

_As much as you all will hate this, they all lived pretty normal lives. Hermione and Draco had two twin boys: Anthony Lucas Malfoy and David Andrew Malfoy. Eva and Dallis had one little girl: Alexis Grace Cade. Luke finally found the girl of his dreams. A petite women named Emily. They married on July 19th, four years after they all graduated._

_And that, my friends, is it. That there is the story of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. A story of pain, hurt, forgiveness and love. It starts out a little rocky, but this story gets a happy ending, unlike so many of the stories out there. Though, even though the story has a happy ending, their lives aren't over yet. They still have a long life ahead of them. There are still thousands upon thousands of memories to be created: both good and bad. I just hope that their lives end just as happy in fifty years as they are right now._

_

* * *

_

That my lovely friends, is that. My story is complete. I know that the epilogue sucks and has very little information. But I told you guys that it was just a simple wrapping up of the story, nothing more, nothing less. And that is exactly what it is. I have something to add here before all my personal notes though. Something that I want each and every one of you to read. Something that will explain why this story came to be. It's "the story behind that story"

I know I promised that this would only take a week for me to post. Theres reasons it took longer though. There were two other people that I needed to come clean to before this part was written out for the world to see. First, I had to come clean to the one that I now consider most high. And after that, I had to come clean to one whom I hold so near and dear to my heart. I had to tell one of the best friends that I could've ever had before I told all of you. To be perfectly honest, I completely chickened out of telling her in person. I wrote her a letter and mailed it to her while she was on vacation. There are a few people that are going to read the following that I feel the need to apologize to because I couldn't work up the courage to tell you myself. I hope you can forgive me for telling you this way.

Many have said how aspects of this story were "so real". Or how closely I got this to the life of many teenagers. There's a reason for that. Hermione Grangers life in this story was more or less my life in a nutshell, with and few add flares and a few small changes.

**Truth #1**: I have never been beaten in my life. Nor have I been harmed in any physical way by my family. When I was five, my mother and I moved back to the city where I was born and in with my grandmother and one of my unclesd. This uncle had been, and still is, a drug addict and alcoholic for 20 years when we moved here. The count is now up to 31. At first, I never heard any of it. I never saw anything. Than I began to hear the fights, the things that he called people. The language he used when speaking to his own mother or sister. This man, if he could be called that, was sick, sick, sick. He would get into such rages that he broke anything in the house that was breakable. He broke one of our glass table only two years ago because someone had asked him a question. His personal attacks on me didn't start until I was 10, but by than, all the mental damage had already been done. He stole things, went to jail for it for a couple of days, than just came home angrier than when he had left. Eleven years after we moved into that house, he's worse than he was than. The difference? We were finally able to kick him out one year, one month and seventeen days ago.

**Truth #2**: The blade. That blade was my best friend from the time I was twelve until I was fourteen and a half. It was the thing I ran to when I need comfort and release. I see now that it did nothing more then cause more pain and suffering for me. It was just one more secret to hide.

**Truth #3**: The notebook. Enough said. After all, how do you think my stories came to be?

**Truth #4**: The exercise. I started exercising myself beyond the point of pain every single night. Making sure that I was too tired to think when I went to bed. I still exercise daily, but in much, much more moderation. My routine went from 2-3 hrs a day to about 40 minutes. Big dip, and I must admit I had to change my eating habits slightly, but I'm still in shape and I get a hell of a lot done in that forty minutes.

**Truth #5**: The suicide attempt. I never got as far as Hermione did in the story. I never got to the point where I had about a thirty-second window to turn back. But I was about 48-hours away from that moment when I received a phone call. It was Jacquie, my "bestest" friend on this earth inviting me out to a concert. It was this outing that began to turn my whole life around.

Going through the list, you may find two things missing. The drinking and the pregnancy. There's a good reason for that. I don't drink, I'll wait until I'm legal for that. The pregnancy, well, you would need to not be a virgin for that to happen. I need to feel 1000 comfortable in my own skin before I'm willing to do either of theset hings. And, I'm not there yet. I'm on the pth to being there…but like all teens, I'm not at the end of that path yet.

To all my readers who are doing any of the things that too place in this story…I'm begging you to stop now. If you're using a blade, take that thing and fling it out a window or off a hundred story building. Something, anything. Anyone with suicide plans or anything of the sort, toss them right this moment. I'm telling you, there Is always at least one person who loves you will all their heart. No matter how horrible life may be, it's not worth it. I've seen what suicide does to a family and friends. Someone in my family committed suicide 2 years ago and that family was never quite the same. The blade, the superficial relief, the rush that the idea of suicide gives you is not worth your life. If you need someone to talk to and feel you cant confide in anyone you know, you can feel free to email me. I now make sure to check my email every single day. Usually two or three times a day. Even if there's just something you need or want to talk about, I will always lend you an ear.

I love you all. Each person that read this story and reviewed it, whether it was a good or bad review. I'm going to do a few personal notes, but I cant say thank you to each and every one of you. There are just too many of you! I have about 6 personal notes to write but I thank you all. Each reader and reviewer. The ones that have been there since I started this story two years ago. The patience you have shown. And those who started half-way through, or on the last chapter. I love you ALL! And I thank you with every fibre of my being.

Onto the notes:

**Jacquie**: I'm not sure if you'll ever read this, but I thank you nonetheless. If it hadn't been for you, I would've been gone from this world before I ever got a chance to live in it. You picked up the phone and called me and I truly believe it was an act of God. You showed me my life again, in a way that I had forgotten to look at it. You helped me find my confidence again. You brought me slowly into a world that I had forgotten existed. You showed me a path of light that I'm slowly, step-by-step, travelling, with you by my side. I don't know what I would do without you. I love you forever and always.

**Eva:** You, my dear friend, are amazing. You've listened to me cry and complain at times when I felt I could turn to no one else. And you made me feel wanted for so long. You made me feel like I was worthy of someone's friendship. I love you forever and ever and ever. No matter what happens in our lives, no matter if we grow apart, I will always, always be there for you and I will forever have a place in my heart for you

**Luke:** You showed up at a time when I needed a friend. And you never ceased to amaze me with your timing. Whenever I needed someone to talk to you always seemed to show up out of thin air….almost literally. I thank you for just being there to talk…even though I don't think you ever had any clue about what was going on. I thank you for much more then I could ever put into words. I just…thank you for being you. For being a friend that I could say just about anything to and know that I wouldn't be judged for it. Really, honestly, I don't know what I would do without you to talk to sometimes. I literally spend the entire time I'm talking with you smiling and it's almost like all my problems are gone, even if only for that short period of time. Mr Luke, I love you and always will. hearts and hugs

**Jeremy, Alfred and Tim:** You guys will never cease to make me smile. You make up my little world with your stupid fights and arguments and you keep me freakishly grounded. I thank you three and I love you.

**Dave and Bree:** Dave, you're my human pillow and my imaginary boyfriend D I love you and thank you for being you. Bree, I thank you for being one of the closest friends I have, and one of the only females I'm willing to trust. I would trust you with my life. Love you forever.

**Sierra**: I may not talk to you often or email you all that often, but I think about you every single day. And I'm glad you're in recovery. And I pray for you every single day. Pray for the fact that I can see you sign on one more time. You hold a spot in my heart and my mind. You mean something to me and I'm glad that you're willing to talk. Any time you need something and I cant talk online, just email me and I will always answer.

**To all my readers**: I love you guys and whether you reviewed or not, I'm glad you read this. I'm glad that this story was worth your time. And all of you, I hope you read my future stories. I also hope that you guys keep in touch! I love emails. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. Love you all

Know that I don't expect any story to ever live up to this…but I will try my best

For the last time with Crimson Rain Drops whose author is currently bawling

L&H  
Pure Mudblood

**EDIT: **

Wow you guys. That's all I have to say. Wow. I just received overwhelming amounts of support for this story and. . .just wow. Thank you. Thank you so much. I did finally manage to stop crying after I wrote this. Took me awhile, especially considering Luke was online and was being so beyond nice. And I've found it hard to not cry with each email and review that I've received. You all say I'm so brave…I happen to think it's those that are emailing me or asking me to email them for various reasons that are the brave ones. SO again, thank you.

I may not be at the end of my own story yet, but I'm coming to an end with this chapter. I'm on the downhill stretch now. The only thing I have left to do is to get rid of the blade completely. Yes, I still have it. I have not touched it in over a year, but it still sits in the spot I put it when I last touched it. I think it's time though…it's time to completely let go of the materials that are that part of my past. You guys helped me realize with your reviews (andone certain personslove)that I'm ready. Not 100 percentok with it all, but I'm ready.


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